Pokemon Berlitz Revised
by Marozard
Summary: In a world where the three heroes fail to defeat Team Galactic, Team Galactic now has possession of Dialga and Palkia. Before falling in a battle to end their tyranny, one has a son with another. Can he finish what his parents started all those years ago?
1. The Beginning

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or any of the characters that appear on the tv shows or the video games. I do however own some of the OC's.

A/N: This is my first story on here and I hope you all like it. It's a story about a young boy who's father died in a vain attempt to stop Team Galactic. Some of you may think of it as a dark version of Diamond and Pearl, but over time you may realize that it can be something else entirely. Enjoy. (Yes I know Ch.1's short and sort of sucks but please try to bear through it, it gets better)

PS: This is a revision of the original story due to new fanfiction settings and popular demand.

* * *

Ch. 1: The Beginning

A light wind blew across the field of the Indigo Plateu. The dirt that formed the Rock Stadium picked up, shrouding the two trainers save for their sillhouettes. One sighed as he recalled his fallen Empoleon and pulled out a second pokeball. Pressing a small unimpressive button on the back of the device, the sphere enlarged into its natural size.

"Go Sandslash!"

The trainer hurled the pokeball as if it were a baseball into the arena. The ball popped open in a bright white light and revealed a hunched creature with two pointed claws. It rapidly rubbed them together as if sharpening its dangerous weapons as it eyed the pokemon in front of it.

"Sandslash, use the Rapid Dig, (Rapid Spin and Dig), combo, then follow it up with Defense Curl!"

The spiky porcupine pokemon nodded with a 'Sand!' Leaping into the air and spinning at a furious rate with the pointed ends of its claws in the air. The insane amount of spinning caused the effect of a drill and as it made contact with the earth, the hedgehog burrowed immediately out of sight. The other pokemon looked around confused where the ground type would pop up when Sandslash appeared right in front of it. The speed from the Dig allowed it to fly in the air and curl up in its armored ball mid-air so its spines surrounded its entity. Once this was done, it fell rapidly in the other pokemon's direction ready for its spines to do the work.

"Lucario, counter with Bone Rush, then follow up with Aura Sphere!" Another trainer cried. The humanoid canine pokemon happily obliged, pounding its fists together then drawing them apart to reveal a neon green bone made from its aura. As the Sandslash fell towards it, it slammed the newly-made weapon into it, hitting it so hard the ground type burst open. Lucario stepped back, its legs at shoulder length as it brought his arms around in a circle while bringing both fists back as an orb of bright blue-green energy appeared between them and shot the orb at the pokemon's vulnerable spot. But right before he made contact, the TV shut off. Something had pulled the cord.

Bryce had left the video of his dad's victory in the Sinnoh League on all night and now he lie sleeping in his bed, his form slowly moving up and down with every breath he took. Only his spikey black hair was visible as the blankets covered his body and a majority of his face. He felt a nudge but just shifted to the side. Something pulled down his blanket but he just grumbled and rolled his back to it. Then suddenly, a strong scent wafted across his nose. He had never smelled anything like it before in his life! Except every other morning. He immediately sat up and glared at the Stunky who had his back to him at the moment. It turned around and gave him a mischievious grin before running downstairs, it already knew what was about to happen.

Bryce snarled and pulled on his jacket hanging on his bedpost, his green pajama bottoms still on his legs.

"You little rodent! Just wait until I catch up to you!" He cried as he ran downstairs, he sprinted down the hallway and turned a corner, only to find his mother, Dawn standing before him with the grinning Stunky in her arms. Her long black hair fell down to her back and her blue eyes had a suspicious look to them. To most, she was beautiful, but at the time, she couldn't have been more scary to her ten-year old son. Only dressed in a fluffy, blue robe and slippers, she was tapping her foot with a glare. Bryce stopped in his tracks and looked down, guilt obvious in his eyes.

"Bryce," she started. "I've told you more times than I can count not to pick on Lumiere." Here she was referring to the troublemaking Stunky who lept gracefully from her arms and trotted away.

"But mom, he was doing it again!" He shouted with his arms in the air, but he already knew it was a lost battle.

"So," she started taking a deep breath. "you expect me to believe he purposely causes trouble for his own amusement?" She snorts before rolling her eyes. "Please, just get ready, today's the day."

Bryce grumbles under his breath, his long black hair falling over his eyes. "Yeah, time to join the oh-so glorified Team Galactic."

Here, Dawn sighs and motion her son over to her, a sympathetic look in her eyes. "Listen, I know it won't be the funnest thing to do, but,"

Bryce suddenly throws her arm off and glares at her, an unnatural rage in his eyes. "Not the funnest thing to do? They killed dad! Your husband Lucas! Remember him?" His chest starts to heave as he shouts this accusation and Dawn winces before regaining her composure.

"Honey, it's not like you're getting recruited into the ranks! You're just getting your first pokemon, remember? You've always wanted to be an Elite Four champion, just like Lucas."

But her words were lost upoun him as he stormed upstairs.

"That**_ was_** my dream, but not anymore." He grumbled under his breath, but still he got ready. He did all his morning chores including brushing his teeth, making his bed, and feeding Lumiere before giving the Stunky a nice kick in the rear. He threw on a black undershirt with his red and black jacket, long blue jeans and his tennis shoes. He looked at his hat for a moment, sighed, then threw on the red beret that his father used to wear. It's funny, years ago he would have never been caught dead wearing the hat, but now everything was different. Now, it felt like doing something as simple as wearing this hat, was keeping his father's memory alive. With a deep breath, he walked outside with his mother's blessings, to face his fate.

* * *

So ends my first chapter of Pokemon Berlitz. I would like to know all thoughts so this story can develop and grow into a great story. Any kind of review is welcome whether it be compliments, constructive criticism, or flames!


	2. Lost Friendship

'Represents pokemon speech'

* * *

Ch. 2: The New Goal

The air was thick with tension and anticipation. A line of Team Galactic troops were standing in between Dawn and Markus's houses and beside the troops were two other kids, Twinleaf was pretty small afterall. One was nervous and timid, his wire-framed glasses sliding down his nose as he tried hard not to look at any of the men standing next to him. His mousy brown hair falling repeatedly over his eyes, it was a wonder whether he could see at all. The other looked determined, almost daring the troops to do something to him. His blonde hair in a buzz cut and his icy blue eyes looked sharply at the men. Bryce couldn't help but notice that the man next to him had his hand a little too close to his pokeball.

As Bryce stepped outside, the two men standing outside his door grinned maliciously at him. They escorted him to the line and the troops marched them towards the lake. The men began to talk among themselves, obviously at ease while the children nervously eyed the lake before them. Even the blonde looked a bit uneasy. Bryce leaned over to the blonde and whispered,

"What did Uncle Markus say about this Brandon?" The boy identified as Brandon shrugged at him.

"All he said was they were going to see if we're good enough."

Bryce cocked an eyebrow, "Good enough for what?"

But before the question was answered, one of the men spoke up. "You two, quiet over there! We're here." As they walked underneath the overgrowth of trees, Bryce saw that this was indeed true. Before them was a red-headed woman with a stern look on her face. In her hand she held a silver briefcase. A golden G was imprinted on her chest.

A man stood next to her, his face just as serious as well as forlorn. He wore a long white lab coat, almost as white as his beard and mustache that was the most noticeable feature on his face. He had two rectangular devices in one hand, but before Bryce could ask what they were for, the woman started to speak.

"Good morning you little whelps, I am Commander Mars, but you shall address me as Mars, the Supreme Commander of Recruits. Today, you lucky bunch have the honor to choose a Team Galactic pokemon," She held out her briefcase as she said this and opened it, three pokeballs were inside.

"Yeah," Bryce heard a man said to the others around him. "The one's too weak for us to keep." At this, the line of men roared with laughter until Mars shot them all a look. They all fell into silence.

'This is someone I do not want to mess with' Bryce thought to himself before Mars continued her speech.

"As you've probably been told, now that you are of age, we shall test your skills as a trainer. The best of the three of you will have the immediate honor of becoming a member of Team Galactic!" She gives a large toothy grin at this, a grin which Bryce could immediately tell, was forced as though it was a line she'd rehearsed for a play.

"Now we will call you up, one by one to pick a pokemon and the test will commence." She pulled out a clipboard and looked down the row of names, "Edwin Flint!" The brown-haired little boy with the glasses walked up and looked through the pokeballs. "But, how do I know-?"

Mars suddenly snarled at the boy, shouting at the top of her lungs, "I said pick a pokemon!" Edwin jumped at the sudden outburst, snatched one and ran to the back of the line while the rest of the troops laughed at the little boy's fear. Rage boiled up into Bryce's chest despite himself and he could see Brandon was so angry he was shaking.

Mars looked back down at the clipboard. "Bryce Wright!" Bryce's rage immediately drained away, replaced by a nervous feeling. As he walked up, he could feel her demanding presence that made him look down at his feet rather than in the eyes. Word of the commander trio's power was legendary. He quickly walked up, took a pokeball and fell back in line. As soon as he fell back in line, Brandon walked up with anger written on his face. Mars looked at him coolly, "Did I call you whelp?"

Brandon frowned at her, "No _Supreme Commander_, but I'm the last one in line. My name is Brandon Gerard, look it up." And before she could say anything else, he snatched his pokeball from the suitcase and stood back in line. At this Bryce felt an overwhelming pride to be Brandon's friend, they knew each other their whole lives but he'd never seen him do anything so bold.

Commander Mars looked like she wanted to spring on him but she was interrupted by the man next to her. Through all that had happened, Bryce had forgotten he was there and by the surprise on the other boys' faces, the feeling was apparently mutual. "Now Mars I do believe that's enough!" He insisted, a look of disdain on his face. He looks to the line of boys with something somewhat of a smile. "I am Professor Rowan, a pokemon researcher and my goal is to learn the mysteries of evolution."

Brandon raised his hand and spoke before he said anything. "Yeah, Professor, we already know you remember?" Bryce laughed, surprising himself in such a tense situation but Edwin looked confused.

"I don't"

The professor looked at the spectacled boy and laughed gruffly. "Oh of course, you must be that young lad who came from the Johto region! A pleasure to meet you m'boy!"

Mars clears her throat, obviously not content when she's not the center of attention.

"Now that you have received your pokemon, we shall commence the test. May the designated men step forward?" She boomed in a voice that was obviously not a question, but an order. Three men hastily stepped forward, pokeball in hand.

"Whelps spread out!" Mars cried out in a dramatic fashion. "The boys took their places in various areas as the men stood in front of each of them. As one stood in front of Brandon, another man pushed him out of the way and said, "Let me deal with this one" Bryce recognized him as the man that fingering his pokeball earlier.

"May the test commence!" Mars cried out. The men threw their pokeballs on cue and beams of red light shot out from them. "Go!" They all cried simultaneously. Each beam taking the shape of,

"Oh great," Bryce grumbled. "A team of Lumiere's"

The boys threw their pokeballs out in front of them. "Go, whatever you are!" Cried Bryce at a lame attempt at humor. The beam took the form of a small turtle with a sprout on his head. The turtle had a brown shell on its back and a hooked upper lip. The man laughed in front of him. "A Turtwig huh? Bad luck kid" He pointed his finger directly at it and shouted towards the Stunky, "Stunky, Smokescreen then Night Slash!" The Stunky turned around and raised its tail, a black cloudy gas emerged from it shrouding Bryce's vision. Before he could react, it came out of nowhere, rapidly slashing at the Turtwig then disappearing into the smoke. Bryce tried to think, "Ok, what did I study about Turtwig?... They're Grass types... They know Scratch? No that's Chimchar.. Oh! Tackle Turtwig!" The small turtle suddenly charged blindly into the smoke, unable to see where it was going, all it succeeded in was tripping over a rock. The man, in the midst of the smoke just laughed. "Not too good at this are you kid? Fury Swipes!" The skunk pokemon appeared once more and started slashing at the pokemon, Turtwig went flying backwards at the assault, fell hard on the ground, and was still.

The man laughed cruelly at the poor pokemon. "Looks like I won't be calling you a Galactic commander any time soon!" His Stunky grinned at him in the same manner as his master. "Yeah that's a shame," Bryce said under his breath. He sighed and returned the turtle into its pokeball. He looked around to see how the others had done. As he had predicted, Edwin had failed, his Piplup staring at the sky while the forlorn trainer leaned over him. But to his surprise, Brandon stood triumphantly over a fallen Stunky, his Chimchar doing a dance next to him. The man returned his Stunky grinding his teeth. But while Brandon's face glowed with pride, Bryce could feel his face fall from despair.

"Brandon! No! We talked about this!" But Mars had already noticed Brandon's victory. "Congratulations kid, you're now a Team Galactic Grunt!" The triumphant look in Brandon's eyes faded at these words, "What? But, I….My dad….Team Galactic?" A look of shock was evident in his eyes, this too was soon replaced by fear. His Chimchar, oblivious to what was going on continued his dance next to his trainer. 'Chi-i-imcha-ar! Chi-i-imcha-ar!'

Professor Rowan sighed and handed Edwin and Bryce the rectangular devices. "These are Pokedexes, I would like you two to gather data on pokemon as you start your journey as Pokemon Trainers or Coordinators, or whatever you might become. As you pass through Sandgem Town, please allow me to view what pokemon you've seen at your leisure." He pats Bryce on the shoulder. "I'm sorry about Brandon" But Bryce barely registered anything he'd said, his vision was blurred by tears. He had hoped to go on his journey with his best friend by his side, it would have been more bearable, but the opportunity had been yanked away from him.

Brandon still grasping for any kind of hope feebly asked, "What about mine?" Mars laughed wickedly. "A grunt for Team Galactic has no need for a pokedex! We don't need to learn about pokemon, all you need to know, is that you take the valuable pokemon, and get rid of the weak ones." She looks at Edwin and Bryce, "Hence your pokemon" She laughs and with that, she starts to leave, the men marching behind her as two of the others fall behind and grab Brandon by the arms. Chimchar, noticing his trainer leaving, leaps onto his shoulder and waves to Rowan, Edwin and Bryce, still oblivious to what was going on as he was led away and in a matter of seconds, he was gone, a large blue reptilian pokemon with gigantic flat red wings was called to take them away.

Bryce's shoulders shook as he sobbed over the loss of his good friend, he felt a hand on his shoulder but he didn't care who it belonged to, it no longer mattered.


	3. The Journey Begins

A/N Another short chapter, sorry. Not too good at these family moments so every once and a while we'll run into a short chapter.

* * *

Ch.3 The Journey Begins

It had been a day since Brandon had been recruited into Team Galactic and had been swept away. During that time he came home with a heavy heart, told Uncle Markus the news about his son, was tormented by Lumiere, KO'ed Lumiere with Turtwig, got chastised for it by his mom, and went to sleep. The new day however brought fiery determination to his heart. He would bring Brandon home, he swore it. He pulled on his jacket and said good morning to Turtwig. He figured that since they were just getting to know each other, he should let him out for a little while to bond. (and hey, if that bonding keeps Lumiere from using his noxious gas while he's trying to sleep, then that's just a bonus.)

He stopped for a little while and observed his PS3 and wondered if he could bring it along, but he realized he'd be in the outdoors most of the time so he wouldn't need it. He went downstairs with Turtwig at his heels and shouted, "Mom! I'm leaving!" Dawn appeared around the corner in a flash, carrying an arm full of supplies. She started stuffing them in a green backpack while talking breathlessly.

"Ok, I stopped by the pokemart on my way home yesterday. You have some clothes, a Potion, five pokeballs, rubber gloves, a clothesline, a sponge, some books (You need to keep up your education you know!), clean underwear, snacks if you get hungry,"

"Mom?"

"Be sure to call me every day, tell me about your adventures, all the cute little girls you meet,"

"Mom?"

"Don't forget, change your underwear every day, eat a healthy breakfast, try not to get too dirty, and for goodness sakes! A hat does not replace a comb!" She says as she takes off his hat and tries to straighten out his hair.

"Mom!"

Dawn looks at him surprised as if she had just woken up from a daydream. Bryce gives a quirky grin, though she was a little protective at times, he'd still miss her. "I'll be fine." She smiles softly at him, as if seeing him for the first time, "Aww, I know you will. It's just, my sweet little boy is going on his Pokemon journey. He doesn't need his mom anymore." She sighs before Bryce embraces her. "Ah, c'mon mom, no need to worry!"

'Turtwig!'

Suddenly, there was an insistent tugging on his leg, the hook-lipped Turtwig was obviously impatient and eager to go. "Ok, ok Turtwig, lets go" He laughs, picking up his backpack then falling over from the weight. Dawn gasps, helps him up, bites her bottom lip and asks, "A little much?"

Bryce half grumbles, half laughs, "You think?" She giggles to herself before reaching in his backpack, pulling out a large book titled, "The Encyclopedia of the Pokemon World", and gives him a kiss on the cheek. "And don't worry too much, you'll find him" she adds before opening the front door for him. He looked around one last time at the living room and notices Lumiere looking back at him with a sad face. Maybe, just maybe, he only messed with him because that was how he showed his affection. The skunk pokemon walked over to him and Bryce kneeled down.

"Well Lumiere, I guess this is-" He starts as he reaches out to hug him. A familiar odor wafted across his nose, a sniggering and the padding of pawprints disappearing down the hall. "You little stinker!" Bryce shouted after him, waving his fist while Turtwig coughed on the fumes. Dawn giggled again, arm across her chest while the other was waving the smell away lazily from her nose. Grumbling Bryce heads for the door, as he steps out and starts walking Dawn shouts, "When you're in Eterna, make sure you visit your Grandma Joanna!" Bryce nods, waves and starts off.


	4. The Road Less Traveled

Ch. 4: The Road Less Traveled

Bryce grumbled as he pushed his way through the tall grass, "Sandgem Town had better be close." So far he had encountered three Bidoofs and a Starly and Turtwig was beginning to wear out. He was glad he hated shorts, because at that time he was sure the grass would feel uncomfortable against his legs. He spotted a tree up ahead and waved his arm towards Turtwig. The thought that he was this much closer to finding Brandon excited him, even if he just started.

"C'mon Turtwig, on to Sandgem!" He didn't hear the usually excited, 'Tur-twig!' in response so he turned around, only to find Turtwig on his back. His small green stomach was heaving and his eyes were wide open staring into the sky in a way that reminded him of Edwin's Piplup. Bryce ran to the small pokemon with a worried look on his face.

"Turtwig! What's wrong? Are you sick?" And that's when he heard it, a loud rumbling coming from its belly. Bryce almost laughed from the immense relief. "Ah you're just hungry. Well, I guess it is time for a break." He rubbed the back of his neck, a little embarrassed. Of course a good trainer needs to know when it's time to rest, but being as excited as he was, he overlooked the prospect. He leaned over and picked up the Turtwig who slumped into his arms with a tired, 'Tuuur'. He carried it to the tree he spotted earlier and sat down with it in his lap.

He took out a couple of Oran berries his mom packed, laid one in front of the poor pokemon, and started to eat. The pokemon cried out happily before gobbling down the berry. While this was going on Bryce pulled out his pokedex and scanned it. "Now lets see," he mumbled to himself. "The only move I know you know is Tackle but you also know Withdraw, and Absorb. Not only that, but you're a, female!" This new information surprised him a little, he automatically assumed that Turtwig was a guy like him. As if on cue, she looked up at him, smiled, and called out a happy, 'Turtwig!' Before jumping out of his lap and running around the tree.

Bryce smiled before he noticed the tall grass ahead of him rustling, "Ah crap," he mumbled. "Another Bidoof" But to his surprised, out popped a small blue penguin, it looked around for a second before it spotted him. For some reason it looked a little proud as it pointed at him and cried out, 'Pip, Piplup!' Bryce grinned and stood up, taking this as a challenge, he faces the penguin pokemon and cried out, "Are you ready Turtwig?" Turtwig stopped in her tracks and ran to Bryce's side with a ready, 'Tur!'

"Alright!" Bryce points to the Piplup "Lets try Absorb!" Turtwig's sprout bends forward at the command as a sort of visible green aura emerges from it. The Piplup bewildered by the attack just stares wide-eyed as the green aura strikes it and returns to Turtwig larger than before. She closes her eyes as the attack returned to her and sighs refreshed. Piplup however was quite the opposite as it fell on back. It leapt back up and angrily yelled, "Pip Pip Pip!" At its angry retorts, Bryce ignored and pulled off an empty pokeball. "A wild Piplup around Twinleaf, wait till Edwin hears about this!" He says with a grin as he threw it at the Piplup. It bounced off his head, fell to the ground, and nothing happened. Bryce blinked for a second, were there such things as faulty pokeballs?

Just then he heard a voice cry out, "Piplup? You find him yet?" That voice sounded very familiar and apparently Turtwig thought so too and happily cried, "Tur-twig!" A small scrawny form appeared before them, a mousy kid with brown hair and glasses. "Edwin?" Bryce asked sheepishly, hoping this was just some kind of mistake. Edwin spotted his starter pokemon on the ground with a lump on its head and a pokeball next to it. He returned the penguin to its pokeball and shouted with an accusing tone. "What the heck is wrong with you? You can't steal someone else's pokemon!"

Turtwig stood in front of her trainer ready to defend her trainer from his retorts. But all Bryce could say was, "Well, I, you see... What was Piplup doing out here on its own?" Edwin straightened his glasses and responded, "You mean on **his** own, and we were looking for you smart one. Your mom called ahead and Professor Rowan sent me to find you. It's almost curfew." He said with a disapproving look at his poketch. Bryce almost jumped three feet in the air at this. "It's almost 7 already? We have to go! Turtwig, return!" He called out sending it back into its ball.

Edwin looked at him as he said this, "Is that really necessary?" He asked referring to the return cry. But Bryce had already run in the direction from which Edwin came. Soon the mousy boy had caught up with him, leading the way they immediately arrived to the town's entrance in time to see Team Galactic troops starting to march out into the streets. Bryce almost skid to a halt and tried to turn around to where they came from, but they'd already been spotted. "Oy! You two!" One called, a high tech helmet over his head, indicating he was the Colonel. "What are you doing outside?" He reached for a pokeball ready to dish out their punishment no matter what the answer was. Edwin started to stammer a response, "W-Well you s-s-see, t-there was a," A gruff voice rang out, "They're with me." And in their midst, Professor Rowan stood by the boys' side.

There was such an intimidating look on his face that even through his helmet, you could tell the Colonel was unnerved. Now it was his turn to stammer, "Y-Yes, w-well, don't let it happen again!" Rowan nodded and led the boys inside, as they turned around, Bryce found the source of his fear was not from the professor, but from Staraptor perched nearby staring fiercely at the geared Colonel. Professor held the door open a little while longer to let it in before Bryce noticed that it perched next to a Starly. "Professor, don't they have pokeballs?" Bryce asked curiously. Edwin smiled and that's when Bryce noticed he dawned a lab coat. "The professor is studying the process of evolution, namely why some pokemon can evolve while others can't. Starly and Staraptor are two of his recent test subjects." He explained. "Someday, I hope to be a Pokemon Researcher like the professor." He added at the end of the explanation. Bryce walked up to the Staraptor which looked at him curiously before he started to stroke its feathers. "Dad had a Staraptor" He whispered as the pokemon made a small noise of content. He felt a hand on his shoulder, it felt similar to the one at the lake and he realized it was the professor's. "Yes, your father was an excellent student of mine, but he only managed to gain very little pokemon data. Coincidentally, that's your father's pokedex. You're Uncle was so impatient those days, he didn't even get one." Bryce ignored this last bit of information and looked at him bewildered, "But, how?" Rowan frowned in response, looking a little distant before he murmured, "I saved it."

Bryce slowly fingered a button on his pokedex, thinking of the destruction and turmoil out on the streets that day and the large pokemon with two pink gems in its shoulder that had caused it all. "Professor, do you know what pokemon that was?" He had been thinking about it ever since, but no one would ever tell him. The professor sighed before taking out his own pokedex and typing in a few buttons, he handed it to Bryce who looked at it, anticipation evident on his face. On it was the exact picture of the pokemon who he remembered two years ago. The pokedex chimed out,

_Palkia, The Spacial Pokemon. It is said to live in a gap in the spatial dimension parallel to ours, it has been known through Sinnoh mythology to be a deity that can distort space._

A grim look crept over Bryce's face. "So that's what it was doing that day? Distorting space to destroy people's houses?" Rowan nodded, "I'm afraid so, but you see, it was beyond its control, it was Team Galactic, they had somehow managed to take control of it."

* * *

Flashback

The stars had shimmered that night like no other, as tradition stated, everyone in Sandgem town turned out their lights and watched the sky for the annual Volbeat and Illumise migration from Hoenn. Bryce and his family, along with Uncle Markus and Brandon went there every year. Bryce was on his father's shoulders as he pointed in the sky, his arm around his wife. The firefly pokemon flew through the night, stopping short of the fountain everyone had gathered around. Each Volbeat and each Illumise paired off with each other and began their mid-air waltz around the fountain, or at least a waltz is the best way to describe it. Suddenly, the air behind the fountain shimmered. Bryce blinked and stared with his mouth agape as the marble literally started to bend. The fountain split and half and peeled like a banana as the terrified firefly pokemon flew off towards the trees. A large pokemon stepped forth with a spiky haired man in tow, his face contorted with a wicked grin as he held the end of a long red chain, the chain wrapped around the pokemon's neck. Lucas put his son down and hurriedly told his wife to hide with his son with which she obliged, he was the most important thing to them at the moment. The spiky haired man started shouting out orders and the pokemon's gems started to glow.

It slashed out into mid-air, a large pink shock wave followed after the motion and hit a house, it started to shimmer as the air behind the fountain had done before and tore open. Those unfortunate enough to be too close started to get pulled in, their ill-fated cries pierced the night air. Lucas angrily looked at the man and ran in his direction along with Markus. The man towards the pair and glowered, the look that he gave the two was one of familiarity. It was as if the trio had encountered before, and the result was not a happy one. Lucas reached for his pokeball as well as Markus, they were ready to defend the town with their lives. Markus sent out his Tangrowth while Lucas sent out his Staraptor. But by that point, Bryce's mother had picked him up and ran into the lab. The only safe area, according to Rowan, because his research of Evolution was too valuable for Team Galactic to destroy. When the noise ended, they ran outside to find Uncle Markus unconscious against the ground, his Tangrowth, wrapped around him, roots in the ground thanks to Ingrain, but his father was gone.

* * *

That night, Bryce lie awake all night, the new information on what had ended his father's life etched in his every thought. He stared at the ceiling of Professor Rowan's lab lying on the cot provided for him until five in the morning. At the time, no one was awake so he packed up and walked once more into the tall grass.


	5. The King of Route 202

A/N: If this was an episode, it would be known as a filler =] Mostly just used this to have Turtwig use Withdraw for the first time.

* * *

Ch. 5 The King of Route 202

Bryce was troubled and Turtwig could tell. It started when he let her out at six in the morning, the sun was barely up and she was tired. When she looked up with a worried expression at her trainer, his eyes seemed distant as though he wasn't actually there. She'd tried everything she could to cheer him up or to at least make him look at her, but each time she'd been brushed off or ignored. Just when she was about to give up, there was a rustle in the bushes. From the rustle, fierce golden eyes stared at the Grass Type. Turtwig stopped in her tracks and stood on guard as Bryce walked on, unaware of what was going on. 'Tur, Turtwig Tur!' She cried towards him, but he kept going, still in a world of his own.

As she looked on, the eyes flashed and she began to feel a little unnerved. She ran towards her trainer and hastily bit his leg. His eyes widened as he shouted out and clutched at the injury. He hastily rolled up a pants leg and examined it, not enough to draw blood but it still hurt. He glared at Turtwig, "What was that for?" The turtle pokemon barely paid attention to the shouts and was still pulling on his leg while motioning towards the eyes. Bryce looked in the direction she was looking at and noticed the eyes that was watching them so thoroughly.

"What's that?" He asked with more curiosity than fear. "Maybe my pokedex can figure it out," But before he had even so much as touched it, a voice rang out. "May all visitors to Route 202 bow down to their mighty king!" As these words were said, two forms leaped out of the bushes. One was a small kid dawning a cardboard crown that read "Taco King" with a thick black line drawn through it. He wore a red T-shirt with a pokeball on it and dark blue shorts. The boy had a sort of arrogant aura emitting from him which Bryce noticed immediately. Next to him, there was a small black and blue pokemon with a cowlick on the top of its head. Bryce recognized its golden stare immediately pulled out his pokedex. He hadn't had a use for it in the field so far because Bidoofs and Starlys presided all over Twinleaf Town and he saw them all the time. He didn't need it for the three starters either, all three of the boys spent time studying the trio before the fated day Brandon was taken. But this one was new.

_Shinx, the Flash Pokemon. All its fur dazzles if danger is sensed and it flees while the foe is blinded. This pokemon's forelegs have a muscle-based system for generating electricity._

"So this is a Shinx? Brandon always talked about catching one. They're supposed to be rare around here." Bryce murmured. At these words, the boy seemed to puff up with pride and Bryce wondered to himself if he hadn't made a mistake making the statement. "They are," the boy cried. "and I caught him all by myself! So that makes me the king of this area, and if you want to pass, you have to beat me in a battle!" The Shinx murred in agreement, smiling up at his trainer. Bryce sighed in response, this bratty little kid who looked like he hadn't even received his first pokemon, went out and broke the rules so he could call himself the king.

"I don't think the troops of Team Galactic would like hearing this kid." He said out loud, walking away with his hands behind his back. Turtwig followed at his side with a sort of coy look on her face. "Hey! I'm not a kid, my name is Logan! King Logan!" Bryce could sense the anger in his voice and smiled to himself. But no sooner had he done this, then Turtwig went flying through the air, surprise clearly noted on her face. Bryce ran to her side to see if she was alright, seeing that there were no serious injuries, he turned around and shouted angrily at the boy. "That's a cheap shot y'know!" The boy grinned widely before running a finger under his nose in a sort of victory pose. "What you call a cheap shot, I call strategy!" The Shinx grinned along with him, waving his tail at the pair as a sort of taunt. Bryce jumped up along with Turtwig, they both glared at their opponents. "Fine, you want a battle, I'll give you a battle! Turtwig, Tackle!"

The turtle nodded as she charged at Shinx. She sprinted forward as fast as she could, so fast the tailwind blew the sprout on her head backwards. Logan grinned and shouted, "Shinx, dodge and use Leer!" Shinx gracefully leaped backwards. Turtwig, expecting to come in contact with the electric type at a specific spot, tripped when she hit anything. Falling on her face, she jumped up to find the cub staring at her in a way similar as before. His eyes flashed and the same unnerved feeling she felt before overwhelmed her. So much that she barely registered when a voice shouted, "Now Tackle!" The flashing eyes dimmed and the Shinx charged at the Turtwig and sent her flying back. She landed flat on her stomach, legs sprawled out. "Now Tackle again!" Logan cried with a laugh. The Shinx started running in Turtwig's direction once again. Bryce had to think on his feet, he needed to find an opening but Logan was going too fast, then it came to him.

"Turtwig, Turn and Withdraw!" Turtwig nodded and with a, 'Tur!' She swiveled so Shinx charged directly into her side, then quickly folded her legs under her body. Logan's eyes widened as he cried out, "Shinx stop!" But he was going too fast, and though he started to slow down, he slammed into the turtle's hard brown shell, and with the effect of slamming into a rock, he went flying back, hit his head on the ground, and lay still. Logan fell to his knees in shock crying out, "No! I've never lost before, it's not fair! You can't do that!" He lay over the Shinx who had a small bit of blood on the fur under its chest. Logan returned it.

Bryce cocked an eyebrow, "You've never lost before? Who have you battled?" Logan looked up with watery eyes. "My sister Natalie's Bidoof." Bryce could've laughed out loud, but he managed to keep a straight face as he pet Turtwig on the head. "Good job Turtwig, thanks to you, the king has been dethroned." Turtwig replied with a happy, 'Tur!'

"I won't forget this!" cried Logan waving his fist at the two. Bryce grinned. "I'm sure you won't your highness." He said with a flourished wave and a bow. Turtwig smiled and bowed down as well, leaning on the knees of her front legs before standing back up, and with that they continued on to Jubilife City.


	6. The Jubilife Ruins

Ch. 6: The Jubilife Ruins

The bustling city of Jubilife, a prosperous city where both pokemon and humans would go about their daily lives. The tv station broadcasting the latest shows, whether it was some kid catching a Bidoof or the weather in Snowpoint, everyone had a chance to shine. The Poketch company advertised their products by giving free products to the few privileged people who were chosen to answer incredibly easy questions from clowns. The trainer school was filled with eager students, ready to learn about the basics a trainer needed to know about pokemon. But this was all a long time ago, and the city was only a shadow of what it once was. The school and station were all destroyed, believed to promote independent thoughts which Team Galactic did not approve of at all.

Free thoughts led to emotions and as the Supreme Overlord Cyrus stated, "Emotions are naught but weak illusions that cannot stand against death." And though he could not stop people from feeling, he could do his best to try.

Few apartments still stood and the poketch company went out of business years ago, they were now rare objects to obtain. Jubilife was now considered the slums of the Sinnoh region. Bryce walked along the worn out road, it didn't even faze him that the city was once so full of life. Hardly anything caused by the corrupt monarchy mattered that much. But Turtwig seem unnerved, she kept looking around, he eyes wide as she examined the ruins.

She'd never heard of what'd happen to the outside world, and why should she? She was only born a month ago in captivity with the other two pokemon. Hatched from an egg in a largely sheltered life, she realized that truly, ignorance is bliss. Bryce noticed his nervous Turtwig after a couple of minutes in the city. He stooped down and scooped her up in an attempt of comfort, he tried to think of something to say, but nothing came to mind.

So he kept walking until they arrived at Pokemon Center. He pushed the doors open and a pink-haired woman smiled back at him. A Happiny stood on the desktop next to her and started to dance around at his arrival. "Good Afternoon!" She recited in a well rehearsed voice. "Welcome to the Jubilife Pokemon Center! May I heal your pokemon?" 'Happiny Happiny!' chirped the pink pokemon obviously trying to help.

Bryce nodded and put the Tiny Leaf pokemon down on the ground, pulled out her pokeball, returned her, and handed it to Nurse Joy. She smiled.

"Don't worry, we'll take good care of your Turtwig." 'Happiny!' She turned around and placed the pokeball in the tray with a sign above it stating, "15 Minute Waiting Period" Bryce took the opportunity to pull out his pokedex and scanned the baby Happiny.

_Happiny, the Playhouse Pokemon. Happiny carries around an egg-shaped rock in imitation of Chansey, it gives the rock to its friends._

Bryce tickled it under its chin while it gave a peal of laughter in response, flailing its arms and legs. The mention of Chansey however, reminded him. "Miss, don't nurse pokemon have to be trained for this sort of job? I mean, Happiny looks as though she was born a little while ago." Joy sighed at the words, her braids visibly drooping as though to symbolize her emotions. "I'm afraid, her mother passed away last week, so we're shorthanded. She's here so she can have a little experience before she's sent to the Nurse's School." Bryce blinked, "They still allow those?" Joy smiled a bit warily, "Of course, even Team Galactic need someone to heal their pokemon. She was actually my mother's partner, "She stated, mentioning Happiny's mother once more. "before this happened," She motioned out the window with an outstretched arm at the ruins. Bryce nodded, "I'm sorry about that."

Joy withdrew her arm, nodded and wiped her eyes, her back still turned to him as though she was putting all her attention into the machine that was healing Turtwig. "It's alright, she had a nice long life, but it's a little hard when you lose a childhood friend. I'm not sure you'd understand." A vision of Brandon flashed in Bryce's head as soon as the words were spoken. "I understand completely" He murmured a bit more to himself than to Joy. Happiny, sensing his displeasure, put a small hand on his forehead to gain his attention and started to do her dance again which resulted in a tiny smile from Bryce.

After a few minutes, the machine "dinged!" and Bryce received his pokeball once again which he hung on his belt. He noticed a row of video phones and walked over to them. He inserted 50 Pokes and dialed his mom's number. After a few rings, Dawn's face showed up on the screen and beamed at him. After a few ritual "Hello's", "How are you's?" and "Have you changed your underwear?" Bryce hung up and noticed a poster on the wall. A Torterra and an Empoleon were facing each other, sparks visible between their eyes while over their heads read, "The Pokemon League! The ultimate test to determine the best of the best! Don't hesitate, sign up now!" Underneath it was a blank white sheet with a couple of names scrawled on it. Bryce shrugged and picked up the pen provided on the table under it and signed up to. "Well, I guess if I want to be strong enough to overtake Team Galactic and get back Brandon, this is the best way to do it," He murmured to himself.

He started to walk out the door but was stopped by a call from Nurse Joy, "Wait! You signed up for the Pokemon League right?" Bryce turned around and nodded, walking back to the counter. "Well you're going to need these, Happiny?" The playhouse pokemon held out two rectangular items, one that looked entirely too heavy for her. This was proven when she toppled off the counter, but Bryce was already reaching out to grab the items so he managed to catch her in time. She smiled at him. 'Happiny!' and held out the items once again. Bryce replaced her onto the counter and retrieved them. One was a card that had his name printed in gold letter and ID numbers. The other was hollow but when he opened it, there were eight empty spaces, all in odd shapes. "This," She states pointing to the card, "Is your trainer card, you'll need it if you make it to the Pokemon League, and this is your complimentary badge case. Good luck on your journey." She said with a smile and a nod. 'Happiny, Happiny!" Called out the tiny pokemon, jumping so hard her egg-like stone almost fell out of her pouch.

Bryce smiled at the display, waved and left. He walked along the worn-out road once more into Route 203. As he walked he noticed it was starting to get dark, he'd have to find a place to sleep if he didn't want to get caught out after curfew. He found a tree by the pond outside of Oreburgh cave, an area shrouded by the dark and nearby bushes, and pulled out his sleeping bag. (You know this was coming, characters on the tv show somehow manage to magically stuff a large sleeping bag in a backpack with no problem so I'm using it as an advantage) As he settled in, he listened to the sounds of the forest, Kricketots in the tree above him and the wildlife all around, knocked their hollow antennae together to produce their own music.

The sound of fluttering Zubat came to his ears as they flew out to find their daily (or nightly) meal. The Bidoof scurried into their hollows, calling out to others as they turned in for the night, and a Shinx murred and flashed in the moonlight as it neared other pokemon before finding a place to sleep. Bryce let out a sigh. It relieved him that though Jubilife was in ruins, it had no effect on the wild pokemon. It made him think though Team Galactic could reign over humans, they had no effect on the outside world, and it comforted him. He rolled over in his bag and watched the Shinx's natural light dim before he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.


	7. The Oreburgh Mines

A/N: Here's where I stand apart from the game a little bit. I refuse to believe that pokemon can only use four moves and have to forget a move to keep that rule alive. Not only that, but I also refuse to believe that pokemon go from one region to another on their own unless you beat the Pokemon League. For the benefit of nonbelievers, I'll explain the reason why. Pokemon can easily get from one region to another, not only by flying and swimming, but trainers do come from other regions and abandon their pokemon for various reasons. You might say, "Who would abandon a Scyther or a Sneasel?" Something like that, but there could be plenty of reasons. Maybe they got old and were deemed worthless, or maybe they were very young and believed not to have any good moves. Then, once they were abandoned in the region, they could breed with another pokemon in their egg group and produce a colony of their kind that spreads throughout the region. Now, the reason I believe in a pokemon learning more than four moves. The only reason they actually have that rule is because the game doesn't have enough memory to have all pokemon learn as many moves as they possibly can. I will however, have them lose moves if they develop a more powerful version of the attack. Like to forget Absorb for Mega Drain or something like that. Sorry about the long explanation but I felt the need to avoid future complaints from strict gamers, and I apologize if I offended anyone, now on with the story.

PS: (Translates Pokemon Speech)

* * *

Ch. 7: Oreburgh Mines

The Oreburgh Tunnel was as busy as always. Bryce walked through the entrance and stood for a second so his eyes would adjust to the dark. As he did, he noticed Zubat hanging upside down among the stalactites, sleeping off the late night. But some were still awake, fluttering among the ceiling. A line of Digletts led by a Dugtrio burrowed through the tunnel close to the wall to avoid the people that happened to be there, while calling out a sort of chant.

'Diglett-ee! Diglett-ee!'

'Trio Trio Trio!'

'Diglett-ee! Diglett-ee!'

'Trio Trio Trio!'

They continued the chant until they disappeared in a small hole in the wall. Other than that spectacle, there were more people than Bryce had ever seen in one place. Couples walking through the tunnel, observing the glittering walls caused by the rich nutrients found in the rock. Two kids were having a battle on a trail off to the side of the main tunnel while others stopped to watch. As Bryce started to exit the tunnel, he heard cries of, "Chimchar, use Scratch!" and, "Use Bide Kricketot!" echoing through the caverns of the vast area.

His eyes met the sight of a town full of people. There was barely any room to walk without bumping into anyone but he tried his best. Ever since the loss of Jubilife, Oreburgh had become the site for tourism. Mostly because of the excavations and the various gems found in the mines. People from all around could watch as men worked in the tunnels with old fashioned drills and pickaxes. Another team would cart wheelbarrows in and out to collect the gems found in the walls. But this wasn't what Bryce was looking for.

"Where's the Oreburgh gym?" He asked himself, vaguely recalling the gyms his dad conquered when he was a kid. From his description, there should be a large building, not unlike the pokemon center with a bright red roof and the gym leader's name was Roark. Once or twice, he almost walked into a Pokemon Center. With all the people in the streets, it was hard to tell where he was going. Finally, he found it. Like everywhere else, it was surrounded by people but who were mumbling and jeering.

"What? I was hoping to see a gym battle with my kid today!" Called out one man.

"Where's the gym leader?" Asked a woman somewhere in the midst of the crowd.

Bryce pushed passed the people until he approached the doors. He tried to push them open but they were locked and bolted. As he shook the doors, he heard the flutter of paper and looked up to see a note taped in between the doors. He stood back so he could read it.

_Dear Challengers,_

_I regret to announce there will be no gym battles today. The gym leader has decided to take a personal day.  
_

He sighed at those words, that's just his luck. But while he's here, he might as well visit the famous Oreburgh Mines. He pushed back through the crowd and made his way south of the gym. There was a vast gate overhead and a tollbooth right below it. Outside the tollbooth was a Growlithe. As Bryce approached the booth and paid the 50 Pokes, the Growlithe started to sniff his jeans for anything suspicious. After a while, the Puppy Pokemon nodded and took his place back beside the toll booth with a sharp bark.

Bryce took this as permission to keep going, so he kept walking. He walked through the mine's entrance and noticed a huge pile of steel girders outside of the gates. He assumed they were for some construction project. The mines were a lot like the Oreburgh Tunnel and he began to feel that he'd wasted his Poke's. But when the trail started to slope downwards, the thought was extinguished in his head. The cavern branched off into many different tunnels. Gems were embedded in every other vacant space in the wall. Men with hardhats were hard at work, using their pickaxes to knock the gems out where they fell into waiting wheelbarrows.

There were even pokemon that the workers used to assist them. Machops were using Karate Chop on the walls to knock out gems into wheelbarrows. Bryce spotted two or three Sandslashes burrowing into the walls. There was even an Onix that slammed its head into the walls, came out, and opened its mouth so a pile of gems fell on the ground for the men to collect. As Bryce watched in awe, he realized maybe Turtwig would want to see this. He plucked her pokeball from his belt and dropped it on the ground in front of him. A red beam took on the shape of the Tiny Turtle who smiled at her trainer with a, 'Turtwig!'

But it didn't take her long to turn around and admire the sparkling gems. She looked around, mouth agape before running off on her own. Bryce shrugged and let her go. "What's the harm?" He asked mostly to himself and went back to watching the workers.

* * *

Turtwig had ran down a vacant tunnel, wheelbarrows were littered all over the place so she guessed that they were on their breaks. She slowed down after a while, her excitement at all the pretty objects dimmed down. Suddenly she stopped and stared at a huge blue gem stuck in the wall. It was almost as big as her head! She wondered if Bryce would want it and decided to find out. She got a firm hold of it with her hooked mouth and pulled hard. She strained so hard she felt her sprout start to bend until finally, her efforts were rewarded with a "Pop!" She fell backwards and beamed. She walked back to the gem and started to pick it up when "Wham!" She was struck in the back of the head with a blunt object.

The force of the sneak attack caused her to fall flat on her face on the cave floor. After she recovered from the shock, she jumped up and looked around angrily for her attacker. Ahead of her, was a dark brown pokemon wearing a long skull on its face. In its hand was a long white bone.

(How do you like my Bonemerang, human servant?) It asked with a sneer. (Who are you to come into this tunnel and steal, _our_ gems?)

Turtwig looked a bit indifferent at this accusation. (_Your_ gems?) She asked indignantly. (They're stuck in the wall of this tunnel, anyone can come and take them!)

(Heh, not when it's in my tunnel!) It replied, pounding its chest with one fist.

Turtwig bent over and picked up the gem and began to walk in the other direction, the way she came. (Well I'm taking it and I'd like to see what you're going to do to stop me!) But as she began to walk off, she heard a loud long cry coming from behind her. 'Maroooooooooooooo! Marowak! Maro! Marowak!' It sounded like a bunch of nonsense to her but from behind her, in the cavern she had yet to explore, there came a loud rumbling that shook the tunnel.

Bryce was talking to a man with a hard hat about the art of spelunking while this was going on.

"Y'see," started the man. "The trick is to swing firmly, hard but not too hard so you don't damage the gems. One swing over the gem, and one swing under so it falls out unharmed. Then you," But before he could finish, a loud rumbling met their ears along with a panicked, 'Turtwig, Turtwig, Turtwig!' Turtwig came running out of the tunnel she had explored, with wide eyes and a panicked expression on her face. She went so fast, she blew past Bryce before he could even ask what was wrong.

"Turtwig, wha-?"

He noticed the rumbling was getting louder and when he turned around, a chaotic scene met his eyes. A group of pokemon was storming the tunnel led by a Marowak. Dugtrios, Digletts, Sandshrews, Sandslashes, an Onix and a couple of Geodudes were destroying the tunnel, a shower of debris and gems came raining down but they took no notice. The man Bryce was talking to pulled out a walkie talkie and started shouting.

"It's a code white! I repeat, a code white! Evacuate the tunnels, now!" He shouted before running towards the exit himself. Everyone started to tear out of the mine as though their lives depended on it, which it did, and Bryce followed suit, holding onto his hat to keep it from blowing away. But as he ran, he noticed three people fell back. A man, a woman, and a girl around his age. The man was the tallest of the three with brown hair and glasses, and a gray vest. The woman had black hair that fell to her shoulders and had the red vest. The girl had the same black hair as the woman tied in a braid that fell down her back. She had a bright pink vest and all three sported red hardhats. From where he stood, Bryce could hear the woman and girl arguing.

"But mom, I can help!" She shouted.

"You're not ready yet, you can get hurt!" The woman argued.

Bryce couldn't help but notice how much closer the pokemon were getting.

"Excuse me but do you think now's the time? You guys have to get out of here!" He hollered over the noise. They were the only ones left in the mine and he didn't intend to get crushed by wild pokemon.

The man nodded and took off a pokeball from his belt, "Roxanne, Stacy, the boy's right, now's not the time. Now, Steelix!" He cried as he hurled the pokeball in the stampede's direction. A large metal snake-like pokemon was let out in front of the group. It roared at the group of pokemon and Bryce couldn't help but stare. It was the biggest pokemon he'd seen in years.

"Steelix, use Rock Tomb!" Steelix roared and slammed his heavy spiked tail on the ground, four large boulders emerged from the ground and trapped the pokemon inside. "That should buy us some time, now lets go!" The other three nodded, the man returned the Steelix, and the group ran out of the mines where Bryce found Turtwig waiting for him with a worried look on her face. "Ok Roxanne, now!" The man yelled.

The woman now identified as Roxanne nodded and took out a pokeball of her own from her belt. "Probopass, use Magnet Bomb!" She yelled as she hurled it towards the mine entrance. A large bulky grey pokemon emerged. Miniature versions of it hung on each side of it and on its back. It had the biggest nose Bryce had ever seen and a mustache to match. It let out a monotone, 'Probo' before the mini-noses came from around it and formed a triangle, a large grey ball of energy forming in the middle. It shot out the energy ball so it clogged the entrance and the girders Bryce saw earlier came flying towards it until it was completely blocked off.

Bryce turned to the man, "So that's what the girders are for?"

The man smiled in response, "Yeah, the cave is filled with rock and ground types but they aren't strong enough to break through pure steel." He said with a smile. "Oh, through all the excitement, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Roark, and this is my wife Roxanne, and my daughter Stacy."

Bryce took the time to shake each of their hands in turn, he couldn't help but notice that Stacy was staring at him with a small blush on her face and held her hand out long after he had shaken it. He took the opportunity after he had shaken their hands to scan Probopass with his pokedex.

_Probopass, the Compass Pokemon. It exudes strong magnetism from all over and controls three small units called Mini-Noses._

"Wait, you're Roark?" Bryce asked.

"Yeah, you were looking for me?"

"Well, actually, I was hoping to have a gym battle with you."

Roark chuckled quietly to himself. "I believe your mistaken, I'm no longer the gym leader." Bryce blinked in confusion.

"Then who is?" He asked

Stacy cleared her throat and tapped Bryce on the shoulder to get his attention, "I am." she chimed in quietly.

Bryce blinked and examined the 10-year old. He turned to Roark, "_She's_ the gym leader?" He asked in surprise.

Roark laughs, noticing the look in his eyes. "Don't act so astonished! But you'll see soon enough," He added which fell to a mischievious tone in his voice "Shall we head over to the gym?" He asked before walking off with Roxanne and Stacy in tow. Bryce started to go too but he felt something bump into his leg. He looked down and saw it was Turtwig with a guilty expression on her face.

'Turtwig, Tur, Turtwig...' She said apologetically. Bryce bent down and patted the Turtwig on the head. "It's ok Turtwig, We all make mistakes but you don't have to dwell over them." Turtwig nodded slowly and opened her mouth, revealing the large gem which dropped to the ground in front of him. Bryce picked it up, examining the large jewel. "All that trouble was over me?" He asked before swooping her up into a hug. "You're a true friend Turtwig!" Turtwig grinned for the first time in what felt like hours. After Bryce pocketed the jewel, he returned Turtwig to prevent her from getting trampled in the crowded city and ran to catch up with the others.

When he approached the gym, he noticed the crowd was no longer there and instead, a line of people were filing into the gym, Bryce followed their influence, expecting to be the challenger everyone was going to see. But to his surprised, on the opposite side of Stacy, was a tall man in a trench coat and an old-fashioned zoot hat on his head concealing most of his face. The arena was filled with dirt, boulders, and rubble which he assumed was from previous battles.

Bryce found a seat in the front row of the bleachers in time to hear the announcer start to speak, "Welcome one and all to the Oreburgh Gym! The challenge today will be between the challenger Trent from Veilstone," The man gave a half-hearted wave to light applause. "and Oreburgh's very own Stacy!" Stacy stood in her place looking down at her feet as the gym thundered with applause. The announcer sat down as Roark stood up, a green flag in one hand and a red flag in the other. "The battle will be a two-on-two single battle! The challenger will be the only one allowed to switch pokemon! May the respective trainers release their pokemon?"

Trent plucked his pokeball off a strap on the inside of his trench coat and threw it into the arena. "Go Budew!" A small green pokemon appeared, her sprouts coiled around each other as if hiding something inside. Stacy took a pokeball out of a pocket of her pink vest and threw it in front of her. "Go Geodude!" A small rock with two arms, eyes, and a mouth floated in front of her, both arms crossed. 'Geodude' He murmured robotically.

Roark nodded and waved both flags down. "May the battle commence!" Trent was the first to respond, "Budew, use Absorb!" The small plant's sprouts uncoiled and revealed on the inside of each one was a red bud and a blue bud. The sprouts reached for Geodude, sending out a green aura in its direction. Stacy was biting her palm nervously, "Uh, um... Geodude, use Defense Curl..." She murmured. Geodude nodded and with a, 'Dude!' He curled so his face was to the ground and his arms were hidden from view. In fact, if Bryce didn't see where it went, he would've thought it was one of the rocks in the arena. But even with the defensive move, the aura struck him and made him fly into a boulder somewhere behind him, shattering it to pieces. The aura returned to Budew, bigger than before and it absorbed it back into its body.

Bryce shook his head, "Is she going to be ok?" He murmured to himself, "Even I know a move like Defense Curl can't guard against Absorb."

"Oh, she'll be fine." Bryce jumped in alarm, he didn't notice that he was sitting next to Roxanne who giggled at his surprise. "She's always like this, but she'll get better." Sitting so close to her, Bryce examined her features before realizing he'd seen her face on tv. "Aren't you a gym leader in Hoenn?" He asked in surprise.

She sighed before looking at him. "I used to be."

Bryce cocked an eyebrow at this. "What happened?"

"Team Galactic."

Bryce blinked, "Since when have they reached the Hoenn region?"

"For about a couple of months, the leader has been sending a member of the commander trio to conquer Hoenn, Jupiter I believe her name was. I used to work part time as a school teacher in Rustboro, and when they tried to tear it down, I fought back. Though I fought for a long time, I was severely beaten and branded as untouchable. Afterwards, I traveled all over the Hoenn region but my reputation preceded me and nobody wanted to take me in out of fear of invoking Team Galactic's wrath. So finally, I traveled to Sinnoh, without better luck until I came to Oreburgh. I was being tormented by the people, trying to keep me out of the city due to fear when Roark found me. When everyone came to watch his gym battle, he made an announcement. He said if anyone treated me as untouchable, he would shut down the gym"

Roxanne wiped her eyes and spoke softly, "He risked everything for me." Bryce blinked, it was hard to take it all in, the evil Team Galactic was starting to spread across the Pokemon World. He came back to reality shortly after, spying a blue and grey hard-headed pokemon standing over a KO'ed Kricketot. Roark had a green flag pointed in Stacy's direction.

"Kricketot is unable to battle! The winner of the Oreburgh gym battle is Stacy!" Stacy put a hand up, waving vigorously while beaming at the crowd who were going wild with applause. Bryce stood up as well as Trent walked away dejected, he reached for Turtwig's pokeball murmuring, "I guess I'm next."


	8. Turtwig's TongueLashing

A/N: Not one of my best chapters. Felix, your char's time to shine is coming soon.

* * *

Ch. 8: Turtwig's Tongue-lashing

Bryce stood up, Turtwig's pokeball in hand. He felt nervous, his first gym battle was about to begin commence in front of a huge audience and he couldn't be sure who they were going to cheer for next. He began to walk down the bleachers but before he could take a step he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder stop him.

"Bryce," Roxanne started. "Maybe we should let Stacy rest a little before you battle her."

She pointed towards her daughter and Bryce noticed the adrenaline from the battle wearing off, her breathing was fast and shallow and she was kneeled over. Her usual timid self was starting to show as Roark stood up and escorted her out of the arena. This was apparently expected, as people began to file out.

"You can try again tomorrow but in the meanwhile, I suggest you visit the Museum while you're here."

Bryce nodded and filed out with the rest of the crowd. When he made it out, he thought, "Where am I supposed to go now? I'm definitely not going to a museum." He wandered to the pokemon center to pick up a map of the place. He'd probably pick up a map of the region at the pokemart later on but he didn't felt he needed it at the moment.

"Hmm, Route 207, famous for Geodudes and Machops, maybe Turtwig and I can get some training done." He murmured before walking off past the museum to the north of the city. Wasn't much to see, a wide open plain, a small cliff face, and a pile of rocks. He looked on his map and read that it would lead to a trail going to Mt. Coronet, the peak which held Team Galactic's main base, publically known as Cyrus Castle. But in reality, it was only a shortcut and he'd skip a gym by taking the trail. Not only that, but he needed a bike going full speed or else, the rocks would crumble and he'd end up back in Oreburgh.

Bryce plucked Turtwig's pokeball off his belt and threw it in front of him, revealing the familiar shape of his faithful companion. She was standing as though she was ready for battle, her brow furrowed in concentration, her front legs slightly slouched as though she was getting ready to run. But when she saw her surroundings, she looked at Bryce with confusion clearly noted on her face. Bryce laughed, but was impressed by how ready she was, but then again, she was there when he challenged Stacy. "We're not going to battle today Turtwig, it has to wait until a little while later, so I thought we could train a little, maybe battle some wild pokemon." Turtwig nodded, they prepared to look for a pokemon, and maybe a trainer to battle when they heard the sound of impact, something had been attacked, or at least, that's how it sounded.

"Sounds like someone had the same idea, lets check it out Turtwig!" Bryce shouted before he sprinted off, Turtwig agreed with a, 'Tur!' and followed suit, as they got closer, Bryce noticed a small boy in the grass on his side, his skin tanned from the sun wearing torn blue jeans. He was on the ground against the cliff face, his blue hat towards his side with the initials PL. His backpack was in front of a bulbous pink pokemon with an abnormally long tongue sticking out. The pokemon was facing him with an angry expression on its face. The boy rubbed his cheek and slowly stood up, he had to be about 8 years old. He backed up against the cliff face with a terrified expression.

"What kind of pokemon is that?" Bryce asked no one in particular before pulling out his pokedex.

_Lickitung, the Licking Pokemon. This pokemon uses its tongue instead of its hands which is twice its height. Its saliva can grip anything._

The pokemon's tongue suddenly lashed out and hit the boy in the face, knocking him to the ground once more. The boy whimpered and curled up into the fetal position.

"Hey!" Bryce called out to the Lickitung. "Leave him alone!" He ran in front of him with his fist pumped in its direction. Turtwig stood loyally in front of her trainer with a 'Tur, Turtwig!' In agreement. The Lickitung only glared at the turtle and lashed out its tongue once more.

"Turtwig, use Withdraw!" Turtwig nodded and folded its legs under its shell. Lickitung's tongue hit her hard brown shell and sent her flying into the cliff face, face first. Turtwig hit the rock hard and fell to the ground, unable to move. Blood trickled down from her forehead into the ground. "Turtwig!" Bryce cried before running to her side and cradling her in the nook of his arm. The Lickitung gave a satisfied grunt before gathering up the boy's backpack and walking off. Bryce returned her and walked to the boy's side, his face had a couple of bruises where the tongue hit him and he was twitching a little.

"Are you ok?" He asked him, reaching a hand out to the boy. The boy didn't move, he seemed ok but he just kept twitching. Bryce had never seen anything like this before, so he said to him, "Wait here, I'll be back!" Then stood up and ran to Oreburgh. A few minutes later, after he left Turtwig with the local Nurse Joy, he brought out a doctor who diagnosed the boy as, "Paralyzed, what you may have witnessed was a Lick attack. He'll be ok after we've given him an injection." He said to Bryce as he had two Chansey's carry the boy to the Pokemon Center on a stretcher.

"What's the deal with that Lickitung?" Bryce asked, still outraged at what it'd done to his partner.

"We've received many complaints about that Lickitung from many trainers. It responds to the name Lash, and a couple of months ago, a trainer from Kanto brought it out here in an attempt to train it, but apparently, it was too much for her. Ever since then, it's been chasing away the wild pokemon, attacking, and stealing from defenseless people, namely those without pokemon." Bryce nodded, it explained the lack of wild pokemon in Route 207, the Lickitung must have claimed it as its own territory. "Now if you'd excuse me, we have to attend to your friend."

He followed the doctor to the Pokemon Center where he picked up Turtwig and waited for the boy to wake up. After an hour, the boy woke up at first looking a bit drowsy but then started to look around with an alarmed look on his face.

"It's ok, it's gone, your in a Pokemon Center now." Bryce said

The boy relaxed before Bryce extended his hand. "I'm Bryce, I'm the one that found you, but I'm afraid it made off with your backpack."

The boy shook his hand but groaned at the bad news. "Aw man! My brother's going to kill me, all his supplies were in there!" He kicked at his covers before grabbing his face with his hand. Bryce grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him a little to bring him back to reality. "Wait a second kid, you need to focus, I need you to help me with something."

"My name's not kid, it's Justin!" The classic response. "And why should I help you?" He asked with a sneer. 'Ungrateful little brat,' Bryce thought, but said aloud, "I need to know all I can about this pokemon before it hurts somebody else, so I'm going to catch it, it can't roam around free with all the harm it's doing."

Justin laughed. "Like you can catch that pokemon!" He said before falling on his pillow laughing. "Maybe I should have left him there." Bryce murmured to himself, before shaking the boy harder than before. "C'mon Justin!" He shouted before the boy knocked his hand away with a scowl.

"Alright, fine then, I hope you get beaten." He snapped. "First, it opened its mouth and made this really loud sound that made me feel light-headed, I couldn't focus or nothing. Then, it flung its tongue at me and it looked sorta darker than usual. It curved upwards, hit me in the face, and my hat and backpack fell off. Then, when you came, it licked me again but it felt different."

Bryce already knew the last one was Lick but he didn't recognize any of the other ones. "Thanks for the help Justin."

"Whatever." He mumbled as Bryce walked away before calling out. "Don't die!" Then he started to snigger like an idiot.

A bit of an exaggeration but he was sure he'd live. Bryce walked out into the lobby, looking in his pokedex on what it picked up on Lash. "Ok, from the looks of it, Lash is male, and he knows Lick, Knock Off, Defense Curl, and Supersonic." He put the pokedex up and pondered. "But if Lash knew Defense Curl, then why didn't he use it? I guess he's an all-out offensive type of pokemon, but how can I use that to my advantage? Hmm, and apparently, Lickitung's can taste the air around them sort of like an Ekans."

Deep in thought, Bryce headed to the pokemart for some supplies before heading out to Route 207 to confront the aggressive Lickitung once more.

* * *

Lash was relaxing in a small cavern, hidden in the shadows of the cliff face, a smirk on his face. He was enjoying a lunch, courtesy of the weakling humans who were unfortunate enough to wander by. As he munched on a juicy Oran berry out of his most recent victim's backpack, he heard a familiar sound and with a satisfied smile, he figured out what it was.

(Footsteps,) He said with a smirk. Someone obviously didn't know about his reputation. He wandered outside, cautiously to make sure no one could see where he'd come out of before noticing a pile of Oran Berries. Still cautious, he got closer to the berries, tasting the air with his tongue, an ability commonly known among Lickitung. (Hmm, there was a human here, correction, the human's still here. In the tree next to the Oran Berry pile. Must not look, can't give it away that I know, and apparently, as soon as my guard's down, he's going to swoop down and attack. Hehe, too bad he didn't count on my supersensitive tongue.) He thought to himself. He opened his mouth and emitted a loud screech, a shockwave of sound following the attack. It went in the direction of the tree.

(Supersonic should get him out in no time.) He thought with pride. But to his surprise, it wasn't a human, it was Turtwig that fell out with an Oran Berry in its mouth. It fell on its back, eyes, rolling around in its head out of confusion.

Lash blinked in surprise. (A Turtwig? Maybe I was wrong. After all, Turtwigs do live around here, they're rare but not unnatural. I guess it was collecting the Oran Berries and was dropping it into this pile to eat later. I'll teach this new pokemon where it doesn't belong right after I have a little snack) Lash nodded, satisfied with himself at the deduction and moved towards the berry pile. Never once did it occur to him that he battled a Turtwig earlier in the day, or the fact that Turtwigs didn't have the natural means to climb up trees on their own. But once the pitfall trap, masked by berry scent was triggered, Lash fell in and felt a familiar bonk on the head, darkness surrounded him. That's when the thought suddenly came to him.

Bryce jumped out of the tree, heavy earmuffs around his ears as he picked up Turtwig who had recovered from the Supersonic by that time. He grinned as he leaped into the pitfall trap and picked up the now occupied Pokeball while Turtwig beamed down on him from outside the hole. He clipped Lash's pokeball onto his belt and called to her, "Looks like Lash won't be bothering anyone else anymore!" Turtwig lowered the rope from his pack and Bryce climbed out. Once this was done, they made their way to the Pokemon Center.

* * *

Fun Fact: Lickitung's name was originally going to be Tonguetyd (That's the correct spelling)


	9. The Oreburgh Gym Battle: Bryce vs Lash

Ch. 9: The Oreburgh Gym Battle: Bryce vs. Lash

It was 7' in the morning when Bryce felt someone shake his shoulders. He groaned and rolled to his side and tried to go back to sleep. He felt a firm hand persist, shaking him harder than before. He swatted the hand away and buried his head in the pillows. After a while, the shaking stopped and Bryce thought whoever it was finally left. With a sigh of content, he flopped on his back and tried to go back to sleep. Suddenly, he felt the blanket he was wrapped in pull hard. He fell on the floor with a thud and rubbed his sore rear. When he looked up, a bright light met his eyes and he instinctively raised a hand to shield them.

"Gah! Ok, ok I'm up" He grumbled. The man chuckled, he straightened his glasses and turned off the light built into his red hardhat. He extended a hand and Bryce accepted it, using it as a means of support so he could easily stand up.

"Sorry about that, but your due to battle in 15 minutes." He said with a grin, showing he was clearly amused by this situation.

Bryce hastily threw his blanket over the bed he occupied and ruffled his hair a bit until he assumed it'd pass an inspection his mom would give.

"Can't it wait until a little later?"

"Only if you want someone to take your place. If that happens, who knows how long it may be until you get to battle? You're not the only one trying to make the Pokemon League."

Bryce waved a lazy hand towards Roark in a shooing motion. "Alright, alright, I'll see you there." He said. Roark straightened his glasses once more and walked towards the door. But as he was about to leave, he added, "Try not to be late, there'll be a lot of people to disappoint."

Bryce barely registered what he had said, he was still half-asleep and he barely noticed when the door closed. He straightened out the bed on his bottom bunk and looked around the room. There were four bunk beds and whereas, the night before they were all filled, now only the bunk opposite to Bryce's was occupied. On the top bunk lay a teenage male with one leg hanging over the side, his blonde hair unkempt could be seen among the blankets. Next to him was a black furry pokemon with a pointy ear sticking out, slightly twitching with every other breath.

Noting that the two were still sleeping, he put away his pajamas and put on his red beret, black jacket, white undershirt, and black jeans. As he reached under the bed to find his tennis shoes, he felt something hard. He looked under the bed and a brown shell met his eyes. That's when he remembered, the day before he kept Turtwig out of her pokeball for the rest of the day to recover from falling to the ground the way she did. He yawned unconsciously and tapped Turtwig on the head.

"Turtwig, wake up. It's time to go."

'Tur...Twig.' She mumbled in her sleep, just curling deeper into herself.

"Turtwig, c'mon we have to go!" He insisted, now pulling on one of her hind legs in an attempt to bring her out.

'Tur...' She mumbled again, crawling back under the bunk once she was free from his grasp.

"Hmmph, fine." He said to himself, fumbling for her pokeball on his belt. "Turtwig, return!" But to his surprise, the usual red beam did not emit to return the tiny turtle pokemon. But instead it opened and it emitted a white light that soon shaped itself in a form Bryce not only recognized, but dreaded. A large round pokemon turned around to face the trainer, rage evident in its eyes. His tongue, twice the size of his body, was hanging out and if Bryce didn't know how aggressive this pokemon was, he would've thought comical. This woke him up immediately and he cursed himself for being so careless in his daze that he'd make a mistake like this.

"L-Lash?" He backed up against the wall very slowly, making sure not to make any quick movements to provoke the pokemon to attack. He held up his pokeball shaking and quickly returned him before he could react. With a sigh of relief, Bryce slid down the wall until his legs were sprawled out.

"Now that's just sad isn't it Ebony?" A lazy voice announced, as though the very effort of talking was a bore to him. "Can't even control your own pokemon, I don't see what the organization sees in you." The very fact that someone was taunting him over such a situation irritated him. Grinding his teeth he shouted, "Well if you knew who that was you wouldn't be so smug! Who do you think you are that makes you think you can just talk to someone any way you like? And what organization?" A skinny form appeared next to the teen and Bryce recognized it as the pokemon laying next to it. He reached for his pokedex before the teen chimed out, "My my, you have a lot of questions don't you? Aren't you going to be late for something?" Bryce's eyes snapped open as he gathers his backpack. Carefully making sure that it was Turtwig's pokeball this time, he returned her and bolted out the door with the teen's amused chuckling ringing in his ears.

* * *

His feet pattered down the street as he neared the Oreburgh Gym where a line of people were filing in, even in the morning the event was quite popular. Bryce fell in line and felt his heart beat faster with every step he took. This time, for sure he was going to start his first gym battle and time felt like it was trying to speed up so he could hurry and arrive to his most anticipated moment. But before he knew it, Bryce was in the stadium, standing opposite to Stacy who looked down at her feet rather than in the eyes, the blush he'd seen before in the mines made a second appearance on her face. The announcer's words were all gibberish to his ears and after a moment or two, Roark stood in the center of the stadium with his referee flags. "Alright, this will be a two-on-two single battle. The challenger is the only one allowed to substitute. May the respective trainers release their pokemon?"

'Wait, two-on-two?' Bryce suddenly thought with an image of a certain Lickitung appearing in his head. Meanwhile, Stacy managed to let her pokemon out first while Bryce was distracted. "Go Geodude," She said so quietly, Bryce almost didn't catch it. She gently underhand-tossed the pokeball in front of her. The same round rocky pokemon she used in the gym battle before appeared. It flexed its arms and the crowd cheered. Bryce, realizing this was the third time he'd seen a Geodude, pulled out his pokedex and scanned it for the first time.

_Geodude, the Rock Pokemon. Many live on mountain trails and remain half buried while keeping an eye on climbers. It is impossible to distinguish it from rocks._

'Maybe, if Turtwig knocked out both pokemon before she gets the chance to, then I won't have to deal with Lash.' He nodded to himself then threw the first pokeball on the right side of the buckle in front of him. "Go Turtwig!" The grass type appeared, letting out a yawn, she crouched down into her battle position, front legs slightly bent as if preparing to run.

Roark nodded and flourished both of his flags. "Let the battle commence!" Bryce immediately started, "Turtwig use Tackle!" Turtwig nodded and sped off, running towards the floating rock. Stacy seemed ready this time because as soon as the turtle took off she shouted, "Wait and use Mega Punch!" Geodude nodded and right before Turtwig ran into it, a white aura surrounded his fist and he punched her in the face, sending her flying into a nearby rock. The rock crumbled into pieces around the tiny turtle who slowly stood up cringing from the fragments. Stacy bit her lip and waved to Bryce. "Sorry about that!"

Bryce just nodded and as soon as Turtwig stood up, he remembered how Stacy didn't know how to deal with special attacks so he shouted, "Turtwig use Absorb!" Turtwig slowly nodded, her sprout bending forward towards Geodude, a green aura emerging that Bryce was only too familiar with. It hit the Geodude, knocking it to the ground and returned larger than before to Turtwig. Once she absorbed it, she looked a little better than before, but Bryce could still tell she was hurt.

"Ok Turtwig, lets try Tackle again while Geodude's still recovering!" Turtwig nodded hesitantly and ran towards the rock pokemon who was trying to push itself back into the air, but before it could succeed, Turtwig rammed into its bottom half. Bryce noticed a little too late that the attack seemed to do more harm towards Turtwig than to Geodude. Turtwig winced, her face bruised from the attack whereas the attack seemed to send Geodude once more into the air. The rough pokemon gave the Turtwig a grin before flexing an arm once more. As he looked in Geodude's direction, he noticed Stacy shifting into her battle mode, which meant things were going to be a lot more difficult.

"Geodude, use Mega Punch again!"

Geodude reared his fist back once more and started floating at an incredible speed towards Turtwig. As he started to punch, the aura returned but right before the attack hit, Bryce shouted, "Turtwig, use Withdraw!" Turtwig shook her head as if to rid herself of the pain from the Tackle and swiveled around, withdrawing all her legs. Geodude's fist slammed into her shell and sent her flying in the air, though she didn't appear to feel it. "Now use Absorb!" Turtwig used the momentum from the attack that sent her flying to swivel around mid-air, her sprout whipped back then forward, and unusual movement for Absorb. But rather than the green aura Bryce had come to expect, Turtwig's leaves flew off towards the rocky pokemon and slammed into it. Geodude flew back into the wall, leaving a small crater and fell to the ground.

Bryce blinked, "What happened?" Roark, meanwhile, walked over to the Geodude and examined it before going back to his spot and waving the red flag in Geodude's direction and the green flag in Turtwig's. "Geodude is unable to battle, Turtwig wins!" The crowd roared so loudly at this that Bryce could barely hear the announcer when he said,

"Well ladies and gentlemen, it seems just in the nick of time Turtwig has learned Razor Leaf and defeated Geodude! What an exciting predicament! Now the only question is, what pokemon will Stacy choose next?" During all this, Bryce noticed a crack in Turtwig's shell where the Mega Punch hit. At first it surprised him, but then he remembered what it said in his old books. Turtwig's shell hardens when it drinks water so it should be fine. Meanwhile, Stacy nodded towards the announcer, concentration in her eyes as she threw the next pokeball out. "Now Cranidos!"

A small pokemon shaped like a Tyrannosaurus (Not that they know what it's shaped like) stood on its hind legs. It's large blue forehead was more noticeable than the rest of it, as it stuck out. Cranidos raked the ground with one foot repeatedly as though it was getting ready to charge. "Cranidos huh?" Bryce questioned as he pulled out his pokedex once more.

_Cranidos, the Head Butt Pokemon. It lived in the jungle around 100 million years ago. This pokemon downs prey with its headbutts._

Roark turned towards Bryce and asked, "Will the challenger keep his pokemon?" Bryce nodded and Roark waved his flags. "Let the battle commence!" Stacy went first this time, pointing at the prehistoric pokemon and shouting, "Cranidos, use Leer, then Headbutt!" Cranidos scraped its foot across the ground one more time, roared a load 'Crani!' and stomped, shaking the ground with its heavy footstep and flashed a sharp look at Turtwig. Turtwig felt a familiar unnerved feeling she felt before when she faced the Shinx on Route 202 and before she could recover, Cranidos came charging at her, forehead to forehead. As Turtwig went flying into the air Bryce cried out, "Turtwig, use Razor Leaf!" Turtwig used the momentum of her opponent's attack to her advantage once again, somersaulting through the air, the act causing the wind to blow her leaves off which would then regroup and blow off again in a furious rate towards Cranidos.

"Brace yourself Cranidos!" Stacy shouted and Cranidos dug its feet in the ground, shielding its face from the furious onslaught. But the attack still hit and it was obvious it hurt, the force of it causing Cranidos to slide across the ground. As soon as it was over Stacy cried, "Cranidos, Take Down Turtwig before it hits the ground!" Cranidos roared once more, scraped its foot across the ground and charged at Turtwig who's soft underbelly was showing at the moment. Cranidos rammed into her chest-first. Her eyes widened as the wind was knocked out of her and she went flying into the stadium wall.

"Turtwig!" Bryce called out as he ran to where she landed and scooped her up. But she was out of it, he returned her and heard the sound of Roark's voice call out, "Turtwig is unable to battle, Cranidos wins!" The crowd cheered and Cranidos roared with triumph. But while everyone was cheering, Bryce was filled with dread. "Well, I guess it's come to this then, it's either I use Lash, or I forfeit until I can get another pokemon." He got the pokeball from his belt and took a deep breath. "No, I have to do this... Ok here we go."

"And Cranidos knocks out Turtwig with a powerful Take Down!" Cried the announcer. "With only one pokemon left, what will Bryce choose as his last pokemon?" Bryce threw his last pokeball into the arena, without saying a word and the Lickitung took form much to the astonishment of the audience.

"Isn't that Lash?"

"No way! That rookie trainer caught it?"

"That's the pokemon that took my backpack!"

Even Roark seemed stunned for a few minutes before gaining his composure. He gave a worried glance in Stacy's direction. Meanwhile, the large pink pokemon turned around to glare at his so-called "trainer". He even had his tongue in, which to Bryce, told him he meant business. But Roark, either oblivious of this, or decided that they needed to continue before something happened waved the flags. "Let the battle commence!" At that moment, Lash's tongue lashed out and hit Bryce full on in the face. Bryce fell back and landed on his rear, a rather large bruise on his face. He rubbed it gingerly and started to stand up before he was hit again and slammed into the stadium wall. Staggering to his feet, he pushed against the wall to support himself and the Lickitung still looked like he wasn't done with him yet when suddenly he fell flat on his tongue.

Behind him Cranidos let out a roar of triumph and raised its small claws, (paws, hands, whatever they are) in the air. 'Crani! Cranidos!' The crowd went wild, Oreburgh's tormentor was going to be taken down by the Oreburgh gym leader. Lash went red in the face as he turned around and looked at Cranidos with anger on his face.

'Licki! Lick-Licki!'

Another idea occurred to Bryce, maybe the only way to get Lash to cooperate, was to make sure whatever he wanted Lash to do had to be within his own interests. "Listen Lash, I know you don't like me, but I'm not your opponent right now, he is." Bryce said, pointing at the assumed male Cranidos who stomped and lowered his forehead in their direction. Lash stared at Bryce for a while, as though considering this prospect. Then, while still facing Bryce, stood up, and turned around to face Cranidos. But he gave Bryce a look that said, "This isn't over yet." Bryce opened his mouth to tell Lash what to do but before he had the chance, he withdrew his tongue, opened his mouth, and shrieked at a high-pitched tone. Bryce covered his ears and winced in pain while most of the audience did the same. Cranidos tried to shake his head as though to shake the sound from his ears. "Cranidos, Take Down!" Stacy cried out, and Cranidos charged in Lash's direction, or so he thought.

"Cranidos, look out!" Stacy shouted, covering her eyes as Cranidos ran full speed into a rather large boulder. Lash then stuck his tongue out once more and dragged his tongue along Cranidos's face. Cranidos started to twitch but couldn't move. Bryce recognized this from before, it was paralysis. "Cranidos, use Headbutt! Cranidos? Cranidos!" Stacy called out to no avail, before Lash's tongue lashed out once more, this time surrounded by a dark, sinister aura. It did an uppercut clean under Cranidos's chin and made him fly into the air falling with a loud thud at Stacy's feet, one foot twitching in the air, but it was obvious he was done. Taking the opportunity while Lash was distracted, Bryce returned him just in time to hear Roark announce, "Cranidos is unable to battle! The challenger Bryce from Twinleaf Town is the winner!" There was scattered applause from the audience, whether it was because their home town hero had lost, or because she lost to the scourge of Oreburgh was not clear but they obviously weren't happy.

Bryce saw Stacy get led out by her mother before Roark approached him with a semi-circle shaped silver badge. "Here you go Bryce, you deserve it." He said with a smile, but then leaned in to whisper, "But I'd be careful about using that pokemon." Bryce nodded and grinned, reaching in his jacket pocket to pull out his badge case. He placed the badge in the case and started to leave the gym to go for the pokemon center. As he came outside, the same teenage boy who taunted him in the pokemon center was waiting for him outside. The sleek black pokemon in his arms with a malicious grin on its face as if it wanted to attack someone. "There may be hope for you yet." He said with a half-smile. He opened a pokeball and let out a large feathered pokemon that was at least six-feet tall. He climbed on and clung to its long, colored plumes. The pokemon let out a, 'Pidgeot!' and took off into the air with the boy and his pokemon, leaving Bryce in its wake.


	10. The Break In

A/N: This is more of a bonus chapter than anything, it's mainly to introduce a new OC while I prepare the next chapter. I'll probably do these every once and a while to buy myself more time :P

* * *

Ch.10: The Break-In

Veilstone city, the city that never sleeps and one of the only cities in Sinnoh that's remained untouched since the old days. After all, Team Galactic liked to shop and gamble as much as anyone else and it's where they kept one of their major bases. It would have been foolish for anyone to attract unwanted attention, because once one person knew, the whole town knew, but this fact was ignored by one individual. In the cover of the shadows, he lurked in the one blind spot of the base.

The sides of the base had large sharp spikes, whether it was for security or just a quirky architectural design was unclear but it wasn't important at the moment. Three pokeballs in hand, he tossed them out in front of him. The white beams of light revealed a large red dragon-like pokemon with a flaming tail, a dinosaur with a flower in mid-bloom on its back, and a turtle with a small curly tail.

"Alright you three, Infiltration Plan Alpha commence." The three nodded and the dinosaur shot out two vines with a sharp crack that went up to the top of the roof and wrapped around one of the spikes on top. The boy pulled out a cane that he had against his side and attached it to one of the vines and the turtle stood behind him. When the boy had the hook attached to the vine, he whispered, "Now!"

The turtle opened his mouth with a, 'Squirtle!' and water shot out of its mouth, forcefully pushing the boy up the vine and propelling him to the spike it was attached to. When he reached the top, he somersaulted around the vine, landing on it with one foot behind the other so he was professionally balanced on it, grabbed the cane, and leaped to the top of the roof. The vines retreated and he returned the turtle to its pokeball.

"I'll be back for you two later, remember your positions and try not to be seen." The other two nodded and receded into the shadows. The boy tip-toed around the spikes on the ceiling until he saw an open air vent. Smoke was billowing out of it and he assumed it was the boiler room that was laid out in the plans. He put a finger to his ear and spoke, "Ok Chris, phase one is complete."

The earpiece buzzed for a minute before a rough voice rang through. "Very good KC, do you see the vent we talked about?"

"I see it."

"Ok, all you have to do is shimmy down the vent, find Hallway K, follow it down to the Containment Room and complete the mission."

"Will do. But why do I have to do this mission? You realize we're highly susceptible to failure. Why couldn't you do it?"

There was a laugh over the ear piece. "If you find a way to get a crippled middle-man and a hotheaded Ursaring in and out without getting caught, let me know. Now get on with the mission, from here on out we can't communicate or you could compromise your position."

"Sheesh Chris, you talk as though I've never done this before." KC said before pulling his earpiece out and chucking it away. In the bright cloudless night, his features were clear. A blue cap was on his head, but a couple tufts of black hair poked out from the back. He held the cane with a gloved hand and threw the hooked end over his shoulder. A black mask covered his face and he wore matching blue sweater and gloves.

He smirked before diving feet-first into the vent, sweater over his nose to prevent himself from inhaling the smoke. As he fell, he pressed himself against the wall in front of him and held his hook at an odd angle. As he neared the ground, a pole that was used for holding pots passed by and the hook caught it. Causing KC to come to an abrupt stop. He pumped his legs twice so he could swing on the pole before jumping out of the vast boiler, somersaulting into the air and grabbed onto one of the rafters above him. Two men working a late shift suddenly woke with a start. One looked around astonished before turning to the other. "Hey Joe, you hear something?" He asked before scratching his head.

The man identified as Joe shook his head and looked towards the boiler. Noticing the cane hanging from the pole he asked, "What in the name of Arceus is that?" He asked, preparing to grab a pokeball. The other man mimicked his actions when suddenly, something blunt knocked him in the back of the head and he fell forward unconscious. KC landed on the ground from behind the man, recovering from his first attack, he ducked and swept his feet under Joe so the large man fell with a thud on his back. Making sure he wouldn't bother him, he stowed the two behind the boiler, but not close enough so they'd get burned and alert the others. As he passed the boiler he reached in and grabbed his cane that was still hanging off the pole.

After he did this, he started up the stairs and looked out the door. He looked left, then he looked right. When he was sure no one was coming his way, he turned to the left and crept on the balls of his toes down the hall. He stopped as he reached its end and pressed himself against the wall, looking down the corridor to make sure the coast was clear, he continued on until he approached a room that had a C over it.

"Ah, there you are." He murmured under his breath as he slunk in and softly closed the door. He switched on the lights and found what he had been looking for. Three machines, each one with a pokemon inside. One with a yellow head that was so thick, it looked as though it was wearing a helmet. Another was pink and had four protrusions coming from its head that reminded KC vaguely of the black dreadlocks someone else he knew had. The last was blue with its ears sprouting out from both sides of its heads that gave it an elfish quality. They all had twin tails with red gems embedded in them and a red gem in their foreheads. They were in a triangle around a large black machine that had a large screen with a series of 0's and 1's, a bunch of buttons, a small black speaker, a small blue screen, a jack, and a keyboard.

"So these are the legendaries, Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf huh? This is a little easy for me but I'll take it." KC murmured under his breath. He removed a small portable camera from his deep gray pants pockets. He snapped a couple of pictures of the three, their containers, and the machine in the midst of them, just in case. All three pokemon looked as though they were hibernating, except every now and again the trio would undergo a series of violent twitching as though they were in a painful nightmare.

"Don't worry you three, you'll be freed soon." He said, putting his hand on the nearest pokemon's glass which happened to be Mesprit. He then walked around it and approached the machine, pressing a big red button above the keyboard. The 0's and 1's were replaced by a blank screen. A monotone voice chimed out, "Password?"

KC pulled out another device from his left pocket and pulled out the wire. He inserted the wire into the jack and looked up at the screen. A letter appeared and rapidly started to change until it found the correct one, after which the letter after appeared and started to change as well until the password was completely spelled out.

"Password confirmed," the voice chimed out. "Fingerprint analysis engage." The blue screen on the machine slowly emerged via a thin black pole. KC yet again pulled out something from his pockets, this time it was a thin case which appeared to have nothing but a thin piece of plastic on it. But this piece of plastic had a sample of the person's fingerprint that was needed to activate the machine entrenched in it. He firmly pressed his forefinger into it until it was attached and put it to the screen. The screen scanned his fingerprint and on the larger screen was an image of a fingerprint. Next to it was the fingerprint that was being scanned at the moment. In between was a picture of a strand of DNA.

A moment passed before the familiar voice recited, "Identity test 43 complete. Please provide a vocal sample." KC could feel his eyes widen. "Vocal? Damn." He said. Suddenly the machine started blaring. "Intruder! Intruder! Breach in the Containment Room!" After the announcement, the speakers blared KC saying, "Damn." Echoing throughout the building. The message looped and without a second thought, KC grabbed all of his equipment and stuffed them into his pockets. He then grabbed his cane and tried to smash it into the nearest container, to no avail.

"Don't worry, somehow, we'll find a way to get you out!" He called, knowing the words would fall on deaf ears. He ran out of the room back the way he came, hearing voices shouting behind him, but instead of going to the stairs to the boiler room, he ran past it towards a long staircase. He quickly dashed up the stairs, knowing from the blueprints he went over beforehand, that they'd take him to the roof. But when he reached the top, an unwelcome sight met his eyes.

"Well, well, well." The man said with a grin, a large number of others were behind him and a large toad-like pokemon next to him. "What have we here?" The man had dark blue hair that ended in two tips on both sides of his head. "Someone had enough gall to try to steal from Team Galactic? Well I hope you're prepared to meet the consequences, courtesy of my toxic friend here." He put a hand on the toad's back who let out a series of croaks that sounded like laughing.

"But before he does, do you have anything to say for yourself? How about your name for a start" The man asked casually. KC just grinned and said, "Call me Sly." Before jumping backwards with his cane in the air, right off the roof. The man with the Toxicroak ran to the edge, surprised a man would pick death over capture, but to his surprise, he saw the hook catch onto a vine thar he led to a Charizard's back. The boy returned the pokemon who was responsible for the vines and shouted, "Go!"

The dragon took off into the night as the man made a last desperate attempt to capture him. "Toxicroak, Poison Sting!" The grinning toad opened its mouth and shot out a barrage of violet needles. But all fell harmlessly to the ground in the woods outside of Veilstone, KC was out of range. The man cursed and stomped his foot as he heard a voice crackle from his belt. He plucked off a walkie-talkie.

"Report Saturn." Said the voice from the walkie-talkie

"I'm afraid we've had a break-in sir, from the alleged Copycat Bandit." He responded.

"What has been taken?"

"Well, he failed but we believe he was attempting to either capture or release the Chain Trio."

There was a growl from the other end and the other person shut off his walkie-talkie. Saturn sighed and replaced the device back to his hip. "Lord Cyrus is not pleased." He murmured to himself when he noticed a glint on the ground in the moonlight. As he approached it, he found an earpiece and smiled despite of himself.

"But I'll make it up to him soon enough."

* * *

A/N: I'm sorry if that wasn't how Sly would act, but I've never played the game, I've always watched for a few seconds while my friends played before I'd get bored and grab a snack until they finished, but I tried my best.


	11. A Blast From The Past

Ch. 11: A Blast From The Past

Bryce turned his badge case over and over in his hands. He just couldn't get over that boy and that mysterious black pokemon of his. As he walked to the Pokemon Center, he remembered seeing a pokemon similar to the teens and pulled out his pokedex. After pressing a few buttons, a sleek, purple feline-like pokemon appeared on the screen, but since he never scanned it, no new information showed up.

"Well it sure looks like it," He said out loud. "But that can't be right, I mean, sure they look the same, but they're completely different colors." He dismissed the thought from his head, assuming maybe the boy dyed the pokemon's fur, that was a dumb trend that he was sure would come and go. As he walked through the Center's doors, he noticed a group of kids huddled around a tv screen, one with a controller in his hand. On the screen was a Zigzagoon, a little skinnier than a normal Zigzagoon, wearing human clothes and standing upright, leaping onto a wire with a hooked cane in its hands. Bryce didn't play many video games, but he guessed it was that game that Brandon raved on and on about getting when he was 8, "Sly Cooper and the Thievius Zigzagoonus" He heard the three boys talking among themselves.

"Did you hear? The Copycat Bandit took his image from this game? They say he calls himself Sly! He even dresses like him!" One boy exclaimed. "When are you getting the new one anyway?" He asked, referring to the boy playing the game who grunted in response.

"I heard he went in and robbed Team Galactic blind! Then by the time they noticed, he was gone on a Dragonite!" The second boy said in awe.

"Oh yeah? Well I heard he got caught before he even made it in and ran with his tail between his legs like a little baby Wurmple!" The other boy countered with a laugh.

"Will you two be quiet so I can concentrate?" The third boy shouted in the midst of the noise. Suddenly he slammed down the control and glared at the other three. "You see what you did? I lost!"

"Well, in that case it's my turn!"

"No way you already had a turn!"

"You guys messed me up, I get another turn!"

As the three started to wrestle over the controller, Nurse Joy hustled over with a Chansey by her side to break the three up, that was when he remembered, "Ah, man! I haven't called mom in three days!" He shouted in despair, hurrying towards the video phones, scrambling around in his pockets for Poke's before putting a 50 Poke coin in and dialing her number. After a couple of rings an image of her mom appeared on the screen. Her hair was in disarray with white powder all over it. She was in an apron so Bryce guessed it was another featless attempt at baking.

"Trying to bake something again mom?" Bryce asked with an amused grin. On the other end he heard a huff with an obvious look of displeasure on her face.

"Where've you been young man?" She asked angrily, ignoring the question. "I haven't heard from you in three days straight!"

"Well, um, y'see I've been sort of busy, a lot has been going on lately!" And before she could say anything else, Bryce started on what happened the past three days: The stampede, meeting Lash, his gym battle, but he left out the mysterious teenager, he was afraid his mom would overreact and think the boy was a dangerous stalker or something like that. She gave the right reactions in all the right places, covering her mouth in open shock at the stampede, a furrowed brow which meant worry at the mention of Lash and a sunny grin at the mention of his first gym badge.

"Aww, I'm sorry honey." She said with a sigh. "You have been through a lot and I guess I can't expect you to keep me attached to the hip. But congratulations on your first badge! You're on your way."

"Yeah I guess so," Bryce sighed. "But I don't know what I'm going to do about Lash mom. Sometimes I think it'd be better for everyone if I just left his ball in a ditch somewhere."

At this, Dawn gasped and put a hand over her mouth, her usual way of expressing her surprise or displeasure. "Bryce Wright, I've taught you better than that! You don't just give up on a pokemon just cause it's getting difficult! In fact, if I recall your father used to have a rather hard time raising a certain Munchlax of his."

Bryce blinked, thinking of the Snorlax of who's belly he'd bounced on with Brandon when they were kids. "You mean Be used to beat Dad up when he came out of his pokeball too?" (Didn't make the name up, it's the name of a Munchlax in the Pokemon Special Manga.)

Dawn giggled with amusement. "No honey, he was just a little bit of a glutton."

Bryce snorted. "A little bit?"

Dawn chose to ignore this and continued. "But what I'm saying is don't give up on Lash, and he'll come around. Speaking of pokemon, how's Turtwig?"

"Ah, I need to put her in some water pretty soon, she cracked her shell in the gym battle."

And after a little minor chit-chat, Bryce hung up and walked out the doors of the Pokemon Center. On the way out of Oreburgh, he picked up a Town Map for the Sinnoh region and opened it. "Ok," he said under his breath. "The next gym should be, here. Eterna City. Guess I need to visit Grandma while I'm there." He shrugs and starts off for Route 203. But as he reached the entrance he heard someone call out, "Bryce, wait!"

He turned around to find Stacy running up to meet him. Panting a bit to catch her breath, she straightens up and looks down at her feet with a red face. "W-well, y-you see... I just wanted to give you something before you go." She looked up with wide eyes and shouted, "J-just for luck!"

Bryce grinned. "Really Stacy? That's nice of you, what is it?" He asked, holding his hand out expectantly, and after nervously biting her lip, she leaned forward and gave him a peck on the cheek. Bryce blinked in surprise, but before he could say anything she rushed away. Rubbing his cheek, still in a daze he walked out to Route 203 next to the pond and subconsciously let out Turtwig.

'Turtwig?' She asked with a curious expression on her face, staring at her trainer who appeared to be somewhere else at the moment. She sighed, wondering if this was going to be a habit and bit him on the leg.

"Gah!" He yelled grabbing at it before rubbing his neck. "I'm sorry Turtwig, I guess I sort of got distracted." He said before picking her up and placing her in the shallow end of the water. She sighed and sunk in until only the top of her head stuck out. The hard soil her shell was made of started to absorb the water for nutrients to seal the crack. Bryce however, sat down cross-legged and thought of Stacy's kiss. It wasn't so much that he liked her, it was just the first time someone other than family had ever kissed him and it caught him off guard.

'Twig?' Turtwig asked again, motioning to where Bryce had put his badge case.

"Oh, oh yeah we did win Turtwig." He said, pulling out his badge case and showing her the new addition. She smiled and stood up for a moment to nuzzle him in the knee before she sunk back in the water.

"Thanks to Lash." Bryce murmured holding out his pokeball. At this Turtwig look bewildered and cocked an eyebrow in Bryce's direction. "No Turtwig, I don't mean like that. The only reason he helped was because Cranidos attacked him." Turtwig tilted her head to the side and smiled.

(That sounds more like him.) She thought.

"But what are we going to do with him?" Bryce pondered, she started to open her mouth before he hastily added, "No Turtwig, we're not going to abandon his pokeball in a ditch somewhere." She closed her mouth and started to think, looking around before noticing a small plot of land out in the deep end of the water. She pulled on his pants leg and nodded her head in its direction. 'Tur! Turtwig!'

"No we're not leaving him there either." Turtwig shook her head and climbed out of the water, the crack fully sealed and sat on her tail end so her legs all stuck out in front of her and mimicked a stern look on her face. With her front legs she started waving in the island's direction as though she was giving a lecture. A look of recognition appeared on Bryce's face.

"Ah! I see, let him out on that small island so we'll be out of range of his attacks. That way, I can negotiate with him without him getting away." Turtwig nodded vigorously, feeling a bead of sweat on the back of her neck. She had really meant to leave him on the island then come back the next day when he was weak from hunger to train him, but she took the credit. Bryce stood up and hurled Lash's pokeball out over the plot of land. The ball burst open and Lash emerged looking smug.

'Licki!' He said, taking his white thumb, he pulled his bottom eyelid down and stuck his immense tongue out. Obviously bragging about the win.

"Uh-oh, maybe this was a mistake?" Bryce said in a hushed whisper to Turtwig. "He's in such a good mood, maybe I could have just sat down and talked to him."

'Licki! Lickitung!' An outraged voice cried out as the realization set in that he was stuck.

Bryce shrugged. "Too late to turn back now." He turned to Lash and cupped his hands over his mouth over the enraged rants. "Lash! I want to talk to you!"

Lash fell silent for a moment, glaring at him before he opened his mouth, his tongue shooting out in an attempt to reach him. But Bryce was out of range so the force of his tongue shooting out resulted in him falling in the water. He went under for a couple of seconds before appearing, struggling for air. Bryce sighed. "I'm probably going to regret this." He mumbled, holding out his pokeball and returning him. He then let Lash out next to him and Turtwig. Gasping for breath, he appeared with his hands (paws, claws) on his knees. Bryce reached into his backpack and pulled out his blanket, wrapping it around the unfortunate pokemon who looked up at him in genuine surprise.

Bryce sat down in front of the tree and held Turtwig in his lap. She didn't take her eyes off Lash the whole time.

"Ok Lash, we need to talk." Bryce said after a couple of seconds of silence. Lash hesitantly sat down on the opposite side of the tree, blanket still wrapped around him.

"Lash, we have similar interests," Bryce started. "I mean, we both like to battle and your power would be a great asset to your team if you'd just cooperate with us. Instead of trying to be all tough and mad all the time, sometimes it's good to just sit down and relax and enjoy everything around us." He waved his hand around him, it truly was a beautiful day. There were a couple of clouds, lazily floating in the sky. There was a gently warmth that Bryce soaked in for a second. The sun was going down so the sky was bathed with soft orange and purple. The wild pokemon were all around going about their business, but despite all this Lash just grunted, 'Licki.'

"Listen, I'd like to keep you out of your pokeball, but not if you're going to be a danger to everyone around you, I want to bond, and maybe, eventually, be your friend." At this Lash snorted and simply stood up, he walked around the tree and threw the blanket in the lake. Bryce sighed and went over to fish it out before he felt a push in his rear.

"Wah!" He cried before he found himself sputtering in the water. He coughed a couple of times and pulled out the blanket. Lash grinned mischievously, 'Licki, Lick.' He said which translated to be, (Now we're even.) Turtwig jumped up and went to her battle position.

'Turtwig! Turtwig!' (That wasn't funny! You could have hurt him y'know!)

'Lick, Lickitung Licki?' (Not my problem, now where are we going?)

'Turtwig Tur Turtwig!' (Who says you're even going to walk with us?)

'Lickitung Lick!' (Are you looking to lose to me again small fry?)

Bryce sighed and slung his backpack over his shoulders. "C'mon guys we got to go, it's 6:30" He announced over their bickering. "Well, in a way this is better, at least he's not attacking us." He mumbled as they followed behind him still arguing. As the approached Jubilife, he noticed a crowd of people outside of the pokemon center, they were in a line with Team Galactic troops in front of them. One of the men was in front, towering over a cowering Nurse Joy clutching a crying Happiny to her chest. In front of the man was a tall orange primate with a long flame on the tip of its tail and a blue stripe over its forehead.

Bryce hurried in front of Nurse Joy with his arms outstretched as if to guard her. "What are you doing?" He bellowed at the men. This attracted Turtwig's attention who sheepishly ran to Bryce's side in battle position while Lash just stood to the side. One of the troops who were standing in front of the line of people spoke up. "She's past her curfew, and as part of her punishment, we're taking that weak little Happiny of hers." He said with a laugh. "What are you talking about? It's only 6:30!" He yelled, pointing at the clock that hung over the Pokemon Center.

"Heh, look again kid. Daylight Savings Time."

Bryce turned to glare at the person who was ordering the pokemon to attack and felt his eyes widen.

"No, way." He said, his eyes feeling as though they were going to burst into tears. The bright blue eyes, the buzz cut, the person who was ordering the attack was none other than Brandon.

"Brandon, what are you doing?" He demanded. "You can't just attack a defenseless woman like this!" But his calls went unanswered and he noticed that he seemed different than usual, his bright eyes were a bit more dull than usual, almost to a point where they were glazed over.

"It's no use kid." Said the man who spoke to him earlier. "This here is one of our "special" recruits, he won't hear a thing you say. Now finish the job Grunt and take the kid out while you're at it."

"Monferno, Flame Wheel, Mach Punch." Brandon said in a monotone voice. The primate leaped up, its mouth engulfed with fire as it spun its long body around and curled up, causing the fire to spread around him in the shape of a wheel. He went directly for Bryce, but Turtwig jumped in the way and took the full hit.

'Turtwig!' She cried as the fire engulfed her, as soon as the ape made contact, he uncurled his body and shot his fist out. A large afterimage of the fist appeared and punched Turtwig in the stomach, making her fly backwards into Bryce who fell to the ground. "Turtwig, are you alright?" He asked as he held the grass type. She groaned softly and stood back up, a burn visible on her forehead.

"Wow, Chimchar got that strong in such a short amount of time?" He asked while taking out his pokedex.

_Monferno, the Playful Pokemon and the evolved form of Chimchar. It uses walls and ceilings to launch aerial attacks. To intimidate attackers, it stretches the fire on its tail to make itself appear bigger._

"It sure doesn't look that playful to me." Bryce said under his breath. "You sure you can do this Turtwig?" She nodded and bent her front legs ready to run, but before she could so much as to take a breath. A large pink pokemon appeared before him, grinning at Monferno. "Lash, you want to battle?" Bryce asked in surprise. Lash nodded with a 'Licki.'

"Alright, lets start off with Lick!"

But instead, Lash opened his mouth and his tongue lashed out with a dark aura, attempting an uppercut on Monferno.

"Jump and use Fury Swipes." Monferno leaped back from the tongue and using the Pokemon Center's wall, pushed his legs hard against it, propelling him into the air. Diving down, with his claws bared he readied to unleash a barrage of scratches on Lash's face.

"Defense Curl Lash!" Bryce called out, but once again, Lash didn't listen and instead, retracted his tongue and emitted an ultrasonic screech in Monferno's direction to confuse him. Monferno's eyes started spinning around in his head but he was already practically on top of Lash so as soon as he landed on top of the pink pokemon, he immediately started scratching Lickitung's face, each one particularly close to the eyes.

'Licki! Lickitung!' Lash cried out, running around while the ape went to work. "Lash listen to me!" Bryce demanded. "I'm just trying to help you out here!"

"Flame Wheel." Brandon said, not missing a beat. But this turned out to be a mistake. Monferno, still in its confused state, filled its mouth with the familiar flames and spun around its body, surrounding it with flames once again. It spun on the dismayed Lickitung for a few seconds before it jumped off, spinning on the road like a tire uncontrollably until it ran into a pile of debris that used to be a building. The debris immediately burst into flames. "Retreat!" One Galactic troop called out, letting out a blue dragon that Bryce recognized from the day at the lake. But now was not the time to scan it. "Turtwig, Lash return!" Bryce bent down to help Nurse Joy to her feet and ran with the rest into the Pokemon Center. He turned around in time to see Brandon return his pokemon and climb onto the dragon without a second glance.


	12. No Room For Failures

Ch. 12: No Room For Failures

"Reports?" A cool voice rang out through the hollow room in. A man with spiky light blue hair faced a variety of computer screens, scanning each one with dull expressionless eyes. Arms behind his back with fingers intertwined. The screens were the only source of light in the room. In front of the room was a line of men, one with dark blue hair that ended in two points on both ends of his head. He looked calm as he stared straight ahead at the men. The other four men had colonel helmets, two on each end of the calm man. But these didn't quite have the same confidence, they were each trembling and staring at the two large cages with glowing red chains wrapped around them. From each cage, small red eyes glowered at each of them, though the head that belonged to them towered over all in the room. They couldn't see what the pokemon were that had to be contained in cages, but they knew well enough what the two pink orbs in one cage and the one bright blue orb in the other belonged to. At the request, the man with the pointed hair stepped forward.

"Commander Saturn reporting the break-in in the Veilstone base. The Copycat Bandit, I regret to say, has gotten away once again. But we did find an earpiece that we believe may have belonged to him. We now believe that he may be working with D.O.O.M. Our scientists think that if they adjust the piece's frequencies, we may be able to listen in on the organization's conversations."

The man in front of the screens nodded. "You have done well Saturn, I am pleased."

Saturn smirked and nodded. "Of course sir." He said as he took a couple of steps back from the line. Another man stepped up, shivering. "Colonel Io sir, I was the one leading the plans for operation O.G."

The spiky haired man turned around, his face still expressionless. "Ah, I've been waiting for this. I do hope, for your sake commander, that the plans were a success."

The man swallowed, took a deep breath and began, "W-well you s-see... That is to say,"

"Go on Colonel, I don't plan on standing here all day." He said with a bored

"W-well, we succeeded on completing the rift, but only for a little while." He said in a hurried voice. "The machines just simply do not have the power to break through to another dimension." He stopped and looked up, a cold sweat on his neck. After a few moments of silence the superior spoke up. "I see."

He turned to the other men and waved his hand dismissively. "Leave us. Saturn, you may stay."

The other three colonels almost stumbled over themselves rushing out of the room, the large mechanical doors closing with a loud clang. Saturn grinned and took his place behind his leader.

"Io, do you enjoy doing this to me?"

Io gulped and took a step back. "W-what do you mean sir?" He asked nervously.

"Your failures." He stated quite simply. "They have grown quite old. First, you lose to that little brat while trying to take a pathetic little Piplup all those years ago in Jubilife."

"W-Well, she did have hel-"

The man ignored him and cut him off in mid-protest. "Then you can't even guard one of our minor warehouses and let the same whelp that you lost to before break in and release the Chain Trio which, as I may remind you, set us back when they came back and broke the chain we had them create." Here, Saturn fidgeted a bit behind him.

"But sir!"

"But still, I overlooked all of these failures and was even generous enough to promote you to Colonel, hoping perhaps you had more of a potential to lead." He looked at the colonel with disgust. "And I can see I was wrong. Failures like this, cannot go unpunished Io. No one else has ever disappointed The Supreme Overlord Cyrus for this long." He said coldly as he stared straight into Io's eyes as if he was looking at his very soul. He casually walked over to the cage with the glowing pink orbs. Thinking it was the perfect opportunity, Io bolted towards the doors which opened as he ran towards the sensors over them.

"Saturn." Cyrus said and as if on cue, the doors slammed shut as Io reached them. He desperately banged on the doors with his fists. When he found this to be futile, he turned around and fell to his knees, tears welling up in his eyes.

"P-please sir, have mercy!" He cried out, his eyes widening with each step towards the cage, causing the tears to fall down the crevices in his face. Cyrus paused for a moment as if in thought.

"You know, perhaps I shall show mercy." He said, looking towards Io, who at the moment felt as though he'd cry with happiness.

"Thank you sir! Thank you! You will not regret this!" He shouted despite himself happily, standing up to exit out the doors, only to find they still would not open. "Uh, sir, the doors are still-"

"Oh, I know Io, but just because I said I'd show mercy, doesn't mean you are not to be punished. You see, a man like you doesn't deserve to leave this world before his time. You, such as many others, should die an old man, when his time is up." Io turned around to find Cyrus on the other end of the room, the cage door open and a red chain in his hand. A large four-legged pokemon walked out. With each step, the room shook and a large round footprint was left in the floor. Saturn sniggered, he loved when Cyrus did this.

The pokemon opened its mouth, a large blue spiral starting to form within it, shifting and turning as though it was alive. "You should consider yourself lucky," Cyrus started. "many people die before they're time, you at least get to die an old man." Io turned around once again attempting to bang on the doors and called out for help, hoping his comrades would come to help him. But of course, no one came, no one dared to defy The Supreme Overlord.

At that moment, something struck him in the back, but he felt no pain. He turned around in surprise, only to find Cyrus smiling. Cyrus never smiled, there was something wrong, but then he remembered what he had heard Commander Mars say before, "No one ever sees Cyrus smile and lives to tell about it." Saturn was so busy watching Io that he didn't even notice Cyrus. Io looked down at himself, what was so interesting about him? That was when he saw it, his body was aging at a rapid pace, a blue beam going through him as if it was a phantom. His hands gnarled and his skin and clothes were crumbling to dust. He let out a strangled cry before his vocal cords failed him. A helmet clattered to the floor and there was nothing left except a pile of fossilized bones.

"Saturn, get someone to clean up Io."


	13. The Turtwig Conundrum

AN: I don't believe in the moves: Cut, Fly, Surf, Strength, Rock Smash, Dive, Waterfall, Defog, or Rock Climb in order to get around. (In other words all the TMs) In my opinion, it's a waste of the move pools, they're basically natural abilities that pokemon can do on their own. Pokemon can cut things on their own, carry trainers through the air and through the sea, push rocks, smash rocks, go underwater, climb waterfalls, flap their wings to dissipate fog and climb mountains on their own without the assistance of a move. (I mean, it'd just be sad if a Machamp couldn't climb up mountains (Four arms for heaven's sake) or if a Lapras couldn't swim with somebody on its huge shell, whenever I think of the moves, I think of Machamp or Lapras.) So unless it's in battle, you won't be seeing those in any of my stories. I'll have them use Razor Leaf or Pound to get through obstacles or something like that, and as you can probably tell, there are a few things that I disagree with the game. You'll probably find out more about them when I get to the specific parts in the story. Such as my disbelief in the Explorer Kit, how can someone dig underground in a couple of seconds? / (And thus ends my rant.) By the way, I tried to keep the levels realistic depending on where Bryce is, but that seems like it's going to be impossible to keep it interesting that way. So I'll try not to warp the levels, too much.

* * *

Ch. 13: The Turtwig Conundrum

Bryce sighed as he walked out the doors, a smiling Jenny and dancing Happiny bidding him good-bye. A lot of his problems were weighing heavily on his shoulders but that wasn't anything compared to the problem that he had walking next to him.

"C'mon Turtwig."

'Tur...'

She had been glum ever since her loss against Monferno. It seemed to her that lately, she just couldn't win, even to a point where Lash had to save her. Lash! Of all people or pokemon. Bryce on the other hand couldn't figure out what was wrong. He leaned over, scooped her up and cradled her into his arms while she gave a heavy sigh and slumped her head over his arm. The pokemon stampede, Lash, Cranidos, Monferno. She'd lost to every single one and the pokemon next to her wasn't helping the situation.

'Licki Licki?' (So is the wimp going to cry now?) A smug voice asked, the Lickitung walking next to the pair on the side where Turtwig's head was laid over.

'Tur..." She mumbled again, turning her body so the head was on the other side of Bryce. Lash grinned, fell back, and walked around to the other side of Bryce stating casually,

'Lickitung Licki? Licki Lick Lickitung?' (You know you can't keep that up right? I mean why should you even be on his team when he has a pokemon like me?)

He of course didn't mean this but he was only looking to press Turtwig's buttons which of course worked. She shook her head in denial and leaped out of Bryce's arms.

'Turtwig Tur!' (Just leave me alone!)

She cried out, running towards the cave up ahead while Lash laughed in response. Bryce had no idea what was going on but knew Lash had been talking to her. He turned to the chuckling Lickitung, and glared at him. Lash shrugged with as innocent of a look as the stout pokemon could muster.

'Licki?' (What?)

* * *

'Ha-Ha-Ha-Haunter.' A gleeful ghost chuckled as it floated through the cave towards a girl with a small sleeping pokemon in her arms. She sat against the cave wall, her head bowed over asleep with her hair over her face. The specter approached her and tapped her on the head with a clawed hand. She mumbled for a moment before rolling over on her side. The pokemon tried again, grabbing the top of her head and shaking it hard, tousling her short blue hair in the process. Her head suddenly snapped up in alarm.

"Whatsgoinon?" She asked drowsily, the Haunter laughing at her response. He pointed a clawed hand down a cave tunnel blocked by a ton of rocks.

"Well we already know he's down there Haunter, but did you find a way to get through?"

Haunter held up one finger in a "wait a second" motion and floated over to the rocks. The girl sighed and stood up, brushing the dirt off of her jeans and followed reluctantly. When she got there the Haunter floated through the rocks and came back. The girl giggled in response.

"Haunter, you know I can't float through walls." At this, he grinned and opened his mouth wide, reaching in with one hand and pulling out a bomb with a lit fuse. Her eyes widened as she dived out of the way, shielding the small pokemon from harm as the bomb exploded, only managing to char one side of the rocks. The ghost was delighted however, doing an aerial back flip and chuckling once again. She stood up with difficulty, still holding the slumbering pokemon.

"Sheesh, I asked for a way to get into the tunnel, not for a near-death experience." She scolded with a frown on her face. The Haunter simply pointed at the pokemon she was holding. Her eyes widened and she moved to slap her forehead but remembered her position. So she settled for rolling her eyes.

"Man, I can't believe I didn't think of this. Psy, if you'd please?"

"Braaaaaa." The golden pokemon in her arms mumbled, the human and her charge both disappearing in a blue flash.

* * *

Turtwig ran through the cave, she just wished that Lash would leave her alone. She skidded to a halt, the cave was filled with boulders. She saw a glimmer of blue somewhere to her left, but otherwise, she saw nothing.

"Turtwig!"

She heard someone call her name and she turned around, rapid footsteps were approaching. Obviously Bryce, but he knew where Bryce was, Lash wasn't far behind and she really didn't want to see him right now. He looked around frantically and upoun seeing a small hole in the rock, squirmed into it.

* * *

"Turtwig!"

Bryce called to the small pokemon, he still remembered what happened last time he left her alone and didn't want her to get hurt. As he approached the cave, he saw nothing but large boulders blocking his view. He did however see a hint of sunlight to his right and a glimpse of blue to the left.

"This is weird," He murmured to himself. "I thought dad said he destroyed those rocks years ago."

Yet there they were, not only blocking the way, but serving as a huge annoyance.

"Now how am I going to find her?"

'Licki!'

Bryce turned around and saw the Lickitung waddling as fast as he could after him. When he caught up, he crouched over, hands on his knees, panting hard as his tongue fell to the ground. After he had a moment to recuperate, he wiped his tongue off with a disgusted look on his face. Watching him do this gave Bryce an idea.

"Hey! Lash, can you search for Turtwig with your tongue?"

Lash looked up at the trainer with a cocked eyebrow, his mouth slowly forming into a smile.

'Licki Lick Lick?' (What's in it for me?)

* * *

Turtwig squirmed through the small passageway until her head came out with a pop into a large spacious cavern. In it, there were two other tunnels ahead of her that branched off in two completely different directions. To her right there was a rock slide that prevented her from going anywhere else. She squirmed the rest of the way out, surprised to find the tunnel was just her size before looking towards the other passages. She decided to take the one on the left and started walking through it looking around.

As she went farther in, she started to notice the walls started to shine and the tunnel began to expand as if to allow more room. It looked familiar to her but the area in front of her was almost pitch black so she didn't have any other visuals to assist her.

"CLONK!"

That is until a blunt object collided with her forehead. She fell backwards onto her shell, struggling a little until she managed to flip herself over onto her feet.

(Well if it isn't the little Turtwig that couldn't.)

Turtwig immediately wished she could be a Chimchar, because at that moment, she felt as though she'd breath fire from all the rage that was boiling up inside her. Despite this, her words were calm and even,

(What are you doing here? Don't you live in the mines?)

The Marowak snorted, clutching her bone as if she was getting ready to use it again.

(Your ignorance is showing human pet,) She said, practically spitting out the words. (Every decent pokemon knows that every cave is connected through an intricate underground system, now leave and return to your master before you receive the same punishment as before.)

Turtwig snarled, in the past three days, she'd lost to a Cranidos, was badly beaten by a Monferno, tormented by a Lickitung, and was now being taunted by a Marowak, she had just about reached her limit.

(Try it.)

Marowak grinned a mad smile before calling out to the ceiling.

"Marowak! Maro Marowak!"

A rumbling sound immediately followed, Turtwig running back to where she came, but she had no intention of retreating. She heard the footsteps of the Marowak pursuing her, and she heard the rumbling of the rocks falling, ceiling the only way back to its companions. After realizing that its companions weren't following it, the Marowak skidded to a halt and tried to turn around to return to the other passage, but all the commotion the other pokemon made had caused a pile of rocks to block his way. Turtwig turned around slowly and growled.

(Not so tough without your friends are you?)

* * *

On the other side of the rocks, the other pokemon started to worry. There was only room for the Geodude at the front, the Sandslash behind them, and the Onix in the back.

(C'mon Onix! Can't you break through?)

(I'm too big, the tip of my tail can't even get through!)

(Well can't you burrow through it Sandslash?)

(Hmph! We don't know this area, there could be an underground lake or nothing underneath us, it's not worth the risk! What about you Geodudes? Asking everyone else to do something when you're just sitting there yourself?)

(Shhh, wait do you hear that?)

(Hear what?)

(Shhh! That! You hear it now?)

And indeed, there was a noise coming from the other side of the rocks, first the sound of struggle, then after this went on for about 5 minutes, the sounds came to an abrupt end. One of the Geodude went forward and pressed his nonexistent ear to the rock.

(It stopped) He reported, still listening hard for anything. Suddenly there was a rapid clinking, similar to the picks in the Oreburgh Mine when they were digging for gems. Geodude backed up with a smile,

(Master Marowak's coming back! I know that sound anywhere!)

The other pokemon grinned and started to talk amongst themselves about the master defeating the human pet. The clinks suddenly stopped and they stepped back, knowing what would happen next. But rather than Marowak charging through the rocks after making a large hole in it with his Bone Club, as they expected, there was a brilliant white light that blinded them. It took a few seconds for the group to figure out what it was but only the Sandslashes recognized it. They looked at each other with horror on their faces before they ran off as fast as they could on all four legs. The Onix turned around calling after them,

(Wait, what's going on?)

(Run!)

They called back in response, which he was only too willing to do at their frantic reply, but his curiosity got the better of him so he only swiveled around to stare at the rocks with the Geodudes. There was a sound of a large object colliding with rock as pieces of debris flew in the pokemons' faces. As the dust cleared, they found what had destroyed the rock was not their master, but a four-legged pokemon with twin bushes on its back. It was bigger than the Turtwig they had chased away but looked surprisingly similar. The pokemon snorted and slowly dragged a front leg across the ground, behind her, they saw several leaves on the ground and Master Marowak KO'ed with a look of surprise evident on his face.

"Grotle?" (Who's next?)

* * *

"There he is!"

The girl cradled an arm under her Abra, pointing at the small green pokemon who snarled at her. Haunter grinned and floated around her to confront the Turtwig. The Turtwig snorted, growling at the ghost while Haunter took his middle finger, pulled down his eye, and stuck his tongue out, which only made the little grass turtle even angrier, the scar on his forehead seemed to glow.

"Turtwig!"

It called out, as it roared to the cave ceiling as loud as it possibly could. Leaves appeared from nowhere and surrounded the Turtwig in a swirling vortex, each one a neon green. When they towered to the ceiling, they stopped, swiveled around so the points were aimed at the trio, then went flying towards them. Haunter saw this coming a mile away and flew into the wall for cover.

"Braaaaa." The small pokemon hummed in the trainer's arms before teleporting behind the rocks from which they came. Even though the girl knew they'd just avoided serious injury, she still couldn't help but to stomp her foot in frustration.

"Man! We almost had him!" She said, yelling at no one in particular. Haunter floated at a furious speed through the rocks with a wide grin.

"Haunter wha-?"

She began to ask before a loud explosion shook the cave on the other side of the rocks. She turned around with wide eyes before yelling after him.

"I want to battle him, not kill him!"

She shouted after the phantom when he came back laughing about his little joke. He returned through the rocks beckoning her with his finger, and Abra teleported them both on the other side.

"Ah great, he got away." She mumbled, the only sign that anything was there were the charred walls on both sides of the wall. Suddenly, a blinding white light flashed ahead of her and she grinned.

"He's got to be over there, c'mon!" She cried out, waving her arm in the light's direction in the right tunnel before sprinting ahead, the prankster phantom following in her wake.

* * *

Bryce sighed, his backpack in front of his feet. Crouched over he removed all the items, a small pile separated from the rest.

"Ok, so that's 5 Oran Berries, a Pecha Berry, a can of Pokefood,"

'Licki.'

Lash said, pointing to a black object in the other pile. Bryce pulled it out and blinked, it was a pair of sunglasses his mom packed him in case he went to the beach.

"What do you want these for?"

Lash snatched them out of his hands and put them on just over his snout so his eyes were looking over them, even without ears they somehow managed to magically stay on, (like Squirtle in the anime). He spun around and did a pose, his arms crossed over his puffed up chest. Bryce blinked again, staring at the Lickitung.

"Ok then... Moving on, so you'll help?" He asked hopefully.

Lash gave a thumbs up and raised his tongue to the air, even going as far as pushing the food back into the other pile.

"So you're telling me, all I needed for you to cooperate was give you something that'd make you look cool?" Bryce asked in disbelief. Lash gave another thumbs up with a grin as a response and went back to sniffing the air. Bryce only stared on in shock, almost missing the brilliant flash that appeared behind the rock slide from earlier. He instinctively ran towards it and Lash, confirming his beliefs came forward and pointed in that direction.

"Ok Lash, use Pound on the rocks!"

Lash nodded, his tongue whipping out, hovering over the rocks for a moment before slamming down and crumbling one into pieces. Bryce ran on through the space while Lash stopped to pick shards out of his tongue, the disadvantage of using something so sensitive as a weapon. He skidded to a halt, ahead of him, there were two tunnels, one to the left and one to the right. Lash suddenly came waddling up.

"Ok, which way do we go now?"

Lash raised his tongue again and sniffed both tunnels, then blinked, then sniffed again. He scratched his head then looked at both tunnels confused.

"What is it?"

He shrugged his shoulders, they both had the familiar leafy scent so he did what any other Lickitung would do in his situation. He covered his eyes and raised and arm, pointing at one tunnel than the other repeatedly. He started to chant something intelligible that Bryce couldn't understand.

'Licki, Licki, Lickitung, Licki Lickitung Licki Lick" (Eenie meenie meinie moe, catch an Arcanine by the toe.)

After he finished, he opened his eyes, his finger was pointing towards the left tunnel. Bryce nodded and ran ahead, Lash did another shrug before waddling after him.

Grotle snorted, a variety of leaves scattered all over, a colossal thud shook the tunnel as Onix joined his Geodude companions on the floor of the cave. She turned around, kicked up some loose dirt on the ground and walked down the tunnel, defeating a bunch of rock/ground types wasn't as hard as it seemed when they were all rushing at her at once. She didn't get very far before a girl with a golden pokemon in her arms skidded in front of her. A floating purple pokemon followed and grinned at her. She pointed at the grass type.

"That must be him, he's so powerful it's not only possible but very likely that he'd evolve. Haunter, Sucker Punch!"

The phantom whom the girl called Haunter disappeared for a moment, Grotle looked around in surprise. It had simply vanished in thin-air, suddenly, there was a flash and the pokemon appeared right next to her. His fist looked as though it was enveloped in its shadow as it sprung forward in an attempt to land a hit. But right when it was about to connect, the fist went through her head. She stared at the purple pokemon wild-eyed, it was a very disturbing feeling, it felt as though the inside of her head was filled with ice water. He pulled his fist out and blinked, staring at it for a minute.

"Haunter! What are you doing? Sucker Punch him!" Haunter's fist took on the familiar shadow aura again as he took another swing at her, but once again, she just stood there staring and the fist went through her head again. He just turned around and gave his trainer a shrug. He couldn't do the attack if Grotle wasn't trying to attack first. She scratched her head, this was very strange behavior. The word about this pokemon was it was always picking fights with nearby trainers and it was extremely powerful after living 5 years in solitude in the cave.

"Ok then," She said just passing off the lack of hostility as the pokemon being prepared for such an attack. "Try Lick!"

Haunter cackled and stuck out his extremely large tongue, only rivaled by a certain Lickitung's, and prepared to taste the Grass pokemon's face. But the pokemon could already tell the pokemon and human meant her harm so she leaped out of the way and growled at the ghost. Without another warning, she leaped in the air with her beaked mouth open and bit down hard on one of the pokemon's hands.

Haunter yelled out in pain and prepared to phase through the pokemon's mouth and wait for another order but the attack was a Dark type so he was a captive. Grotle, now weighing 214 pounds, landed hard with a thud, the pokemon's wrist still in her mouth and shook him hard like he was nothing more than a cheap plaything. Her bushes started to rustle as the leaves began to fall off, the trainer took this as a hint that the pokemon was about to attack.

"Haunter, Sucker Punch!"

Haunter nodded, his left hand might have been incapable of action at the moment, but his right hand was still free. Trying again once more, his fist became enveloped in a dark aura and he swung at the Grotle, this time the attack connected. His fist hit Grotle hard in the jaw. She was so stunned that she only looked wide-eyed for a moment before she went sliding painfully across her side on the rocky cave floor. She shook off the pain she felt in her jaw and growled, there was really nothing she could do. If her opponent's punch was anything to go by, she had two choices, either cut her losses and run, or fight until she fainted in a strange cave. The answer was obvious.

She fell to the ground, her face falling as she stared wide-eyed at the cave ceiling. Her legs sprawled out to her side Haunter stopped, his trainer looking a bit confused.

"Weird, that was it?" She asked, but she shrugged, passing it off as Haunter being stronger than she thought he was and she grinned. "Nice job Haunter!"

But Haunter wasn't looking at her, he suddenly flew towards her at a rapid speed and tackled her to the ground, hitting her back with the thud while Abra remained inactive in her arms.

"Haunter! Wha-?"

A barrage of Razor Leaves flew over her face and Grotle ran past her as fast as she could.

* * *

"Turtwig?"

Bryce called out into the seemingly vacant tunnel, there was a drip somewhere down in the darkness and he could have sworn he heard a Zubat screech, but otherwise nothing. Lash walked beside him, tongue in the air, still looking a bit confused. Every once and a while he'd do a double-take and look behind him but he kept on. Finally, he pointed his tongue straight down the tunnel where there was a low rumbling sound. Bryce stopped, was Turtwig really growling at him?

"C'mon Turtwig, it's me, Bryce?"

The turtle took a few steps until it was out of the shadows. He was still growling and Lash let out a laugh.

'Licki Licki Lick.' (Please, what're you going to do?)

He pulled his sunglasses a little farther down his face and looked over them, stopping for a minute. His grin drooping a little bit, for one thing this growl was lower than he remembered Turtwig's voice to be, and another thing, when did she get that scar on her forehead?

"C'mon Turtwig, Lash is sorry for whatever he did."

Bryce was still trying to coax her towards him, Lash gave a glance towards the Turtwig for a moment, then looked at Bryce. He was having a dilemma, either have a laugh and let this imposter Turtwig hurt Bryce, or save Bryce and maybe get a reward later. But then again, if he did let the Turtwig hurt Bryce, then maybe he'd be next, then who would feed him? The Turtwig was already starting to attack his scar starting to glow and leaves appearing from nowhere around his feet. The leaves swirled around him and started to glow green.

"Whoa, when did you learn tha-?"

But his question was interrupted when Lash rammed into him, knocking the wind out of him. He fell hard with a thud on his back, (Déjà Vu right? :P) and watched the leaves fly over his face. He blinked for a minute before jumping up, the Lickitung following suit.

"Turtwig, what are you doing?" He asked before the grass type snarled came charging at him. Bryce was still staring wide-eyed at his friend, wondering what was going on with her. Lash jumped in front of him crying, 'Licki!' his tongue lashing out and doing something Bryce had never seen him do before. It wrapped around the turtle and lifted him in the air. When this was done, he slowly started to squeeze. Turtwig squirmed hard in the tongue, it felt the air leaving his lungs. He knew what to do, after all those years it was time, conserving energy, saving strength, and defeating weak trainers was for this very moment, and even though he knew he could break out quite easily, he really wanted to show off. He grunted and closed his eyes, concentrating hard.

For the second time that same day, a white light filled the cave, the pokemon grew bigger and heavier, his body changing into a large turtle with twin bushes on its back, but even then it didn't stop, it grew heavier and fell with a thud on the poor Lickitung's tongue who pulled hard until it was free. His greatest weapon incapacitated, he used the only option available, he ran as fast as his stubby little legs could take him, and Bryce followed. Finally aware that this couldn't be the Turtwig he was after.

* * *

Grotle ran as fast as her legs could take her, but she found with her evolution, she was heavier and had more weight to carry so she was slower than before. The trainer and her pokemon were catching up to her.

"Hey! What kind of trick is this!" She didn't even look back before she heard the sound of a 'Licki!' and a brilliant white light filled the cave, both the sound and the light were familiar. (Did Lash evolve?) She thought, but this theory was instantly broken when the Lickitung came waddling as fast as he could behind her and Bryce following suit. She skidded to a halt,

(Bryce!) She thought happily, turning around to tackle him, forgetting once again about her additional weight. She fell with a thud heavily on his stomach, the wind leaving his lungs once again. He struggled under her and looked to the girl.

"Hey! Can you get your pokemon off-?" His words stopped for a moment, as he stared at her. She was the prettiest girl he'd ever seen in his young life, she looked to be about his age, maybe a year older. Her short dark hair bounced with every step and her eyes shined with fierce determination. Her words snapped him out of the trance.

"That's not my Grotle! It's the cave's legendary Turtwig of Challenge!" She said pointing at it, Haunter gliding from behind her and mimicking the point with a laugh. He blinked and suddenly remembered what he was running from.

"Then what's that?" He asked, pointing down the tunnel from which he came where a loud rumbling was shaking the cave. It's immense shadow came first, indicating a monstrous appearance before the pokemon appeared. It was a large pokemon with a small beaked head and a scar on its forehead. It's large brown shell held a small tree on its back which dropped a couple of leaves with every step it took. As it tried to get into the area, its tree got caught in the entrance and it roared.

'Toooooooor!' It cried before it shook its body hard, freeing itself it glared at everyone in the room before its eyes landed on the Haunter. For the first time in a while, the Haunter frowned, there was nothing funny about this. It obviously remembered it as the one who tried to blow it up, unaware that it was supposed to be a joke. It started to clumsily run toward it, but it was unused to the change of body weight. It slipped and fell hard on the ground, its legs sprawled out and shook the cave, rocks raining from the ceiling.

The girl's Abra sensed danger and opened its eyes, 'Braaaaaa.' It cried, its eyes a brilliant blue before it teleported everyone out of the cave. The girl gave a sigh of relief looking around to check that everyone was accounted for while Bryce did the same. As he looked around, he noticed the Psychic pokemon's mistake, when he teleported everyone out of the cave, he teleported **everyone**. There was the Torterra, shaking its head, a bit dazed from the sudden change of scenery. It stood up and when it regained its bearings it stared at the group before stomping the ground hard with a foot. Sending a seismic shockwave in the ground, it made everyone, save Haunter, fall to the ground. It then rumbled towards them and Bryce's eyes widened, it was planning to flatten them and there was nothing to do. But the girl had another trick up her sleeve, she pulled a pokeball off from the inside of her jacket and hurled it over where the turtle was about to go.

"Combusken, Peck then Double Kick!"

The pokeball released the shape of a small humanoid pokemon. It had a beak and three large feathers on its hands, as it fell through the air, it somersaulted so its beak was aiming towards Torterra's head. It slammed into it, making the pokemon's head hit the ground hard. The momentum from the attack allowed Combusken to do another somersault, flipping herself right side up before she swiveled around and shot one of her legs out, kicking his face out in one direction, then using his other foot to stomp the head hard into the ground. When the attack was done, it stood on the head, turned to the others and took a bow. The girl smiled and applauded a little louder than necessary while Bryce stared on with wide eyes. First looking at the fowl, then turning to the girl. The Torterra was obviously out of it from so many blows to the head. That, and the fact that it was caught off guard.

"Who are you?" He asked awe-struck before the girl giggled and stood up, brushing herself off before offering him a hand to which he gladly obliged.

"That's rude of me, my name is Stormie, and this is Psy," She held up the golden pokemon and pointed at the other pokemon in turn, "Combusken, and Haunter."

Haunter floated over and shook Bryce's hand vigorously, shaking his whole body while grinning widely. Lash grunted and stood up with difficulty, brushing himself off.

'Licki Licki Licki Lick.' (I could've done that if I wanted to.)

Haunter floated over to him and poked him in the chest with a claw.

'Haha Haunter Haunter Haunt?' (Hehe, then why didn't you?) He asked, sticking his tongue out.

Lash copied the motion, slipping his immense tongue out, Haunter countered this by sticking out a little bit more of his tongue, Lash let out all of his tongue, and Haunter promptly licked him, covering his face with warm sticky saliva and knocking his sunglasses off in the process. He snarled at the ghost and tried to leap at him but only met air and fell right through him. Haunter pointed and laughed at Lash's futile attempts while both Stormie and Bryce laughed at the twos' antics.

"Well, that's Lash." He said, pointing at the fuming Lickitung who tried to attack the ghost again. "And I'm Bryce."

He extended his hand and she took it, shaking it warmly. Bryce felt the blood in his body creep to his face as he blushed, looking down for a moment before Stormie spoke again.

"So what were you doing in that cave Bryce?" She asked, curious why the trainer was so deep in the cave, few dared to face the Turtwig so she doubted he was there for that. Bryce looked up with a start.

"Turtwig!" He cried out.

She blinked, "So you were there to challenge the Turtwig too?" She asked, wondering why he yelled it in her face. He slapped himself in the forehead, mad that he'd forget something so important.

"No, I lost my Turtwig in the cave when Lash said something to her and she ran away!"

Grotle meanwhile had stood up, watching all that was going on and stared at her trainer. Why didn't he recognize her? She was standing right there clear as day, she sighed, answering her own question from a lot earlier, apparently she was going to have to do this all the time. She walked over, and chomped him in the leg, hard. Unaware of her newfound power, she tasted blood. Bryce leaped into the air,

"Gah! Turtwig!" He instinctively said before stopping and looking at the pokemon. "Turtwig?"

She rolled her eyes and nodded before the trainer grinned, before he could say anything, however, they heard a low groan and a loud rumbling,

'Toooooorrrrr!'

'Toooorrr!'

The monstrous pokemon shouted, now fully recovered from the attack, he shook the fowl off of his head. Combusken went flying through the air and did a back flip in recovery, landing on both legs in front of Stormie. He ran a finger under his nose before doing a couple of roundhouse kicks. Bryce blinked, was it warming up? But when he started to flex, he could tell he wasn't preparing to fight the Torterra, but instead, was showing off for the group. He sighed and pulled out his pokedex, maybe if he could scan something on the pokemon he'd be able to figure something out.

**Combusken, the Young Fowl Pokemon. It toughens up its legs and thighs by running through fields and mountains. This Pokémon's legs possess both speed and power, enabling it to dole out ten kicks in one second.**

"Ok, no help there." He murmured as Stormie tried to get Combusken to fight Torterra again.

**Haunter, the Gas Pokemon. In total darkness, where nothing is visible, Haunter lurks, silently stalking its next victim**. **If you trip and fall for no apparent reason or hear a sound when no one is around, it may be a Haunter.**

Bryce looked up startled at the ghost who was suddenly aware of his staring and pulled down his eyelid with a finger. Bryce knew what came next so he just went back to his pokedex.

**Grotle, the Grove Pokemon, the evolved form of Turtwig. It lives along water in forests. In the daytime, it leaves the forest to sunbathe its treed shell.**

Under Grotle's entry, he found a blinking sentence that confirmed Grotle was Turtwig.

"New Move, Bite." He read aloud. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

**Torterra, the Continent Pokemon, the evolved form of Grotle. Small Pokemon occasionally gather on its unmoving back to begin building their nests. Groups of this pokemon migrating have been mistaken for moving forests.**

Bryce's eyes practically bugged out at this last entry, reading off the level of the particular pokemon. He turned to look frantically at Stormie who was staring wide-eyed at Combusken. Combusken was sprawled out on the ground, obviously exhausted with Torterra standing over it. His front right leg raised, he prepared to stomp down hard on Combusken's limp body. When Haunter appeared out of nowhere, his grin malevolent, he stared at the Torterra right in the eye.

Torterra snorted and got ready to finish what he started when he realized, he couldn't even move. He wasn't even in the forest anymore, he was in a dark realm where shadows swirled around him and phantasmal laughter filled the air, echoing in his ears. The ghost's eyes were in front of him, getting bigger and bigger, multiplying into two, then four, then eight until there were thousands of eyes staring at him with ghastly cackles taunting him.

Back in the forest Bryce blinked, why was Torterra just standing there. All he knew was he was getting ready to break the poor fowl's ribs, then suddenly, Haunter appeared and he froze, staring off into space even after Haunter appeared by his trainer's side. Stormie waved her hand in front of his eyes.

"Don't just stand there, do something!"

Bryce blinked again, what could he do? They were facing a level 51 Torterra who could have destroyed all of them as easily as he could blink. Grotle just sighed and dashed over to Combusken and ramming into it and knocking him out from under Torterra but in the process, placed herself in immediate danger. The Mean Look was wearing off and the Torterra's leg fell on Grotle's back. Bryce started to cry out until he saw she wasn't hurt, all it did was press her into the ground with the same effect of someone stepping on a rock. Frustrated he only stomped harder on her back repeatedly, pressing her in deeper and deeper. When a crack appeared on her shell, Bryce realized that this would only buy them time and turned to Stormie.

"Listen, we have to find a way to get out of here, that pokemon is way out of our league. Maybe Abra can teleport us to the next Pokemon Center?"

Stormie only shook her head. "Abra can only teleport to places that he can see, otherwise we might end up stuck in a wall or something, and trust me, you don't want that to happen."

Bryce looked towards Grotle desperately who was now starting to grunt with each hit inflicted on her shell, the crack growing wider. He didn't want to know what would happen if the foot broke through.

"Well there has to be something we can do!"

She blinked than looked towards Haunter who was with Lash, they were both oblivious to what was going on and were comparing tongue sizes, each one insisting that their tongue was the longest.

"Well, maybe if Haunter could use Hypnosis on him, it'd incapacitate him long enough for us to get away." She started thoughtfully. "But I think Torterra's probably learned to look away from Haunter by now."

Once again he turned to Lash who seemed to have settled his dispute with Haunter and waddled over to his side. He gave a thumbs up when he looked at him and grinned. Bryce nodded and pointed at Torterra.

"Go Lash! Lick!"

Lash waddled while the tortoise was still slamming his foot into Grotle's shell and looked at the pink blob who grinned and stuck his tongue out, slowly dragging it along the Torterra's face. Torterra grunted and shook his head of annoyance as if he was trying to get rid of the saliva. Using the distraction to his advantage, Bryce pulled out Grotle's pokeball and returned her. Lash puffed his chest out and pounded it, mostly trying to annoy him more than anything. Stormie nodded to Haunter who vanished into the ground, Bryce didn't know what was going on but he knew he had to keep Torterra distracted.

"Pound!"

Lash's tongue lashed out once more and slammed into the side of the Torterra's face, knocking his jaw out to the side. He grunted again and turned around slowly, glaring at the normal type, obviously planning something. This theory was confirmed when the tree on its back rustled a little, still keeping eye contact on Lash, he slowly smiled. Lash was distracted by the smile on his face and took a step back, not paying any attention to the tree's unusual movements. The tree's leaves turned a neon green and rose into the air, suddenly shooting towards the Lickitung. Immobilized in surprise, Lash did nothing but stare at the oncoming attack.

Suddenly, Lash's shadow rose in front of him with a wicked smile and opened his mouth wider than anything possible and swallowed all the leaves. Bryce stared on in surprise while Stormie looked a little worried. He then looked Torterra straight in the eyes yet again with another cackle and the Continent Pokemon froze in place. Bryce stared at Haunter, than back at Stormie.

"How, did he-?"

He started to ask before the ghost slowly drifted to the ground. Stormie rushed to Haunter's side and put a hand on him, he was out of it so she plucked out two pokeballs and returned Combusken and Haunter. Bryce mirrored this, returning Lash who was still standing in front of the frozen Torterra.

"I'll explain it later, but right now we have to go." She murmured, grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him behind her, still cradling Abra in the nook of her arm. Bryce blushed and nodded, stumbling after her into the cave.

* * *

Torterra shook his head, finally free of the infernal attack he blinked and looked around in frustration. Where did the pink one and the ghost go? Where did the two humans go? He took a couple of steps and looked in the cave, not a sign of them anywhere, but one of the humans could have used the gold pokemon to disappear again. He grunted before he heard a footstep coming his way. So the humans weren't as cowardly as he thought after all, he turned around to see who exactly he was facing.

He snarled in anger when he saw who it was, rushing towards the trainer as fast as he can, planning to trample him with all the fury he could manage. But the human merely simply held out the pokeball he was so casually toying with a few seconds ago and sent a red beam of light his way. That was all he saw before he was returned to his pokeball for the first time in 5 years.

(So he didn't get rid of it.)

He thought grudgingly, even so, he still felt hatred for the man with the dark blue hair. The human who had left him all those years ago to join the so-called, "Team Galactic." Saturn would never be forgiven.


	14. Pokemon Contests?

A/N: Even though this story mainly revolves around the video game, I've decided to add a few Anime elements to it. Such as attack combos in contests. Trust me on this, from past experience when I introduce combos into stories, that's where I shine, in battles and/or contests. But anyways, I don't like the video game contests so I didn't even consider it for the story. The way I see it, if it was in real life, you walk out from a line of trainers and pokemon, pick a judge to show off to, tell it to do an attack, then get back in line and wait your turn again. Ho-hum right?

* * *

Ch. 14: Pokemon Contests?

"So what happened back there?"

Bryce asked, hands folded in his lap as they waited for their pokemon. Stormie looked particularly worried, both trainer's pokemon were being taken care of by Nurse Joy but Haunter had to be taken into the ICU (Intensive Care Unit). Swallowing a barrage of sharp leaves launched by a pokemon that had the power to evolve twice in one day would injure anyone. Stormie bit her lip and looked towards the door with a neon sign over it that read, "In Session"

"Well, that was sort of a gimmick I was working out for the Floaroma Contest."

Bryce stared at her for a moment, he wondered if he'd sound ignorant if he asked but he decided to bite.

"What is-?" Stormie laughed and wagged her finger in his direction.

"I don't think so Bryce, for all I know, you could be a rival."

"Yeah but-"

'Chansey!'

The round pink pokemon waddled to the two trainers. She sported a white nurse's cap on her head and a pouch that contained an egg. She pointed at the video phone where Dawn's face peered at him through the screen. He nodded and stood up and walked towards the screen and took the phone off the hook. She beamed at him before a pokemon with a trident for a beak poked its head over her shoulder, a faded orange ribbon was in its beak.

"Hey Bryski!" She said, doing all but bouncing on her feet. He groaned when he heard his nickname but she continued to speak before he could voice his displeasure. "I was sooooo excited when I heard you made it to Floaroma for the contest!" Empoleon smiled as well, muttering a muffled cry with the ribbon in its mouth. She looked startled at it before a look of recognition appeared on her face.

"Thank you Empoleon." She said with a curtsy in his direction, taking the ribbon from his mouth. Looking pleased, the penguin waddled off screen. She held it up in his direction.

"This is the first ribbon I've ever won," She explained. "I'm going to send it over to you with hopes that you succeed." She moved the ribbon out of sight and the teleporter next to the phone started to flash. A bolt of electricity shot through the beam and onto the transport plate and the ribbon that was once over the phone with his mom, was now with him. He picked it up before shouting out and dropping it on the ground.

"Be careful dear, it's hot!" She said as he put a burnt thumb in his mouth. After sucking on it tenderly for a moment and picking up the ribbon, he placed it inside his jacket.

"But mom, I don't even-"

There was a sudden movement in the periphery of his vision before Stormie was right next to him, cheeks touching so they were both in Dawn's vision. Her eyes were sparkling and her hands were clasped together. Realizing how close they were suddenly made Bryce interested in the Center's lights as a light tint of red flashed across his cheeks.

"Your mom is Dawn Wright?" She asked in awe, speaking more to Dawn then anyone. A little embarrassed, she grinned while rubbing the back of her neck. Stormie immediately pulled a handbook out from nowhere, she flipped through it rapidly and when she found the page she was looking for, held it up to the elder coordinator.

"You won three Grand Festivals in a row, and that was only in Sinnoh!" Dawn laughed over the other end of the phone, waving her hand modestly in her direction.

"Please stop, you're embarrassing me!" She said with a tone that indicated she really didn't want her to stop. Afterwards, she put her hand to the side of her face as though she was aiming her voice to Bryce and with a wink she said,

"I like your girlfriend."

Bryce felt all the blood rush into his face and looked at Stormie. But as star struck as she was, she either didn't hear the comment or chose to ignore it. Looking towards the ground and fidgeting his thumbs a little, he started to mutter,

"But she's not-"

She suddenly returned the book to where ever it came from and grabbed both of his hands, eyes still twinkling, this time with competitiveness, she looked him dead in the eye and grinned.

"So I guess we are rivals, well good luck in the contest. I'll see you there."

She let go of his hands and flashed him a thumbs-up before Nurse Joy approached both of them. Psy was in her arms struggling a little while the poor woman tried to keep him still and Haunter was behind both of them pointing at her and laughing.

"Well," She said a little frustrated while still trying to hold on to the Psychic pokemon. "Your pokemon have made a full recovery! But these two don't want to stay in their pokeballs!"

Stormie giggled before holding out her arms, Psy noticed the motion and disappeared in a blue flash into his trainer's arms. With a deep sigh, he went to sleep while Haunter floated through the nurse to reunite with his trainer. Joy shivered before looking at the ghost with extreme distaste, holding out one pokeball in one hand and two in the other. Bryce took the two and Stormie the other. With a forced smile, Joy turned around and disappeared down the hallway. Stormie nodded and pointed at Bryce.

"I'll see you tomorrow, just don't think you're going to win!" She teased before went out the door. Bryce turned around to his mom.

"But mom, what are-?"

A sudden clattering off screen attracted both of their attention and Dawn wide-eyed turned back to her son."I should go too Bryce, I have to feed Lumiere, and the others." She said with a shrug and a wary smile. "I'll watch your performance tomorrow!" She waved and ran off screen, the absence of anyone on the other end made it automatically shut off.

"But what are Pokemon Contests?"


	15. A Shocking Performance

A/N: Cheesy title I know :P And to make things easier, I'm going to keep the judges and announcers from the tv show. That's what took me so long to update, trying to make up a new contest announcer (Not so creative with names /) So in other words, Marian is the Sinnoh Announcer, Lillian is the Kanto Announcer, and Vivian is the Hoenn Announcer. So that probably means eventually I'll have to make up a new announcer for Johto. Hmmm, well that is if I put on in a Johto story. That also means I'll have to make up judges from Dawn's past... Oh well, I'll figure out something.

PS: The reason why it's soooo easy to do Haunter's personality is cause I based him off of me :P When I run into something I think could use a little comedy, I think, "Hmmm, what would I do in this situation if I could?" Then I make Haunter do it (I'm not as harsh as he is though, I make up some of those parts.) Lash and Brandon are both based a little off my brother, Brandon's strong will (Before the weird thing with Monferno) and Lash's hostility to be specific (Made him a Lickitung cause my brother loves to stick his tongue out at people, he was originally going to be a Machop, but don't look for that in the Deleted Chapters Story I'm eventually going to make, cause that would mean redoing the whole story with a Machop in it and changing the whole scene, etc etc.)

* * *

Ch. 15: A Shocking Performance

"Welcome one and all to the Floaroma Meadow Contest!"

The crowd roared its approval as Marian raised her hands to the audience. Dawning her usual bright yellow and sunset orange attire. She held the microphone firmly in one hand and spun around in a circle before ending in a bow.

"Today we have some amazing pokemon and coordinators going for the coveted Floaroma Ribbon! Featuring today's judges, Mr. Contesta, Mr. Sukizo, and Floaroma's own Nurse Joy!"

Mr. Contesta stood up in response to this, raising a hand to the audience before calling out, "I'm very glad to be here and hope to see some amazing performances!"

When he sat down, Sukizo took his place, standing up next to him and responding with, "Yes, remarkable!"

Nurse Joy simply stood up and shyly nodded towards the audience but it obviously pleased the crowd who stood up and applauded in support. Marian beamed at everyone as if she was the one who caused it and pumped her fist in the air shouting, "Now lets get busy!"

Bryce gulped, he was dressed in a tuxedo his mom had sent for him the previous night. His usual spiky unruly hair was still in place but his beret was absent. He took a deep breath and sat on the bench, toying with Lash's pokeball. He had never been more nervous about anything in his life. He looked up at the television screen that was placed in the dressing room so the coordinators could have the convenience of watching their competition perform. At the moment, a Machamp was juggling a series of toy pokeballs before catching them all in one hand and grinning at the crowd.

"Man, I don't know how I'm going to do this." He mumbled to himself before someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around to find Haunter who opened his mouth, moving towards him as if he intended to swallow his head. Stormie smacked him in the back causing the phantom to tumble through Bryce, across the room, and into the distant wall.

"Sorry about him. Are you ok? You seem nervous."

"Yeah it's just-"

He stopped talking when he turned around and saw her. In her contest attire, she wore an elegant yet tomboyish sort of look. She wore a black undershirt that clung to her form with an open red vest that shined in the light. Her legs were completely covered with black baggy jeans and black tennis shoes. A red bandana was wrapped around the top of her head but the back was open to allow her hair out. Noticing his stares she grinned and winked at him.

"So I take it that you like my new look?"

He could only manage a nod, still openly staring before feeling a little self-conscious about how dressed out he was and started to straighten out his clothes before she grabbed him by the arms.

"Calm down, you'll be fine." She said with a small smile. She straightened out his bowtie and tried to smooth out his hair. When this didn't work, much to Bryce's amusement, she just settled with ruffling it. She sat down on the bench next to him.

"Like I said, relax, it'll be fine. Now lets watch the next coordinator."

Bryce blushed and nodded, turning towards the screen.

* * *

In the meadow, there was not a huge stadium like most contests. Instead to preserve the beauty of the flowers, the contest stadium was only temporary. A fold up stage that could be put in a truck was in front of three podiums and three rows of very large bleachers that could be taken apart. There was no roof, the sky making a suitable substitute and the flowers replaced the ground.

"Next up is Krystal Walker!"

The crowd cheered as a dark-haired girl walked upoun the stage. She wore black fingerless gloves with red jeans and a red t-shirt. As she waved to the crowd, the earpiece that was hidden behind her hair buzzed.

"Krystal, you read me?"

"Loud and clear KC," She said through her teeth. "Could you bother me about this later?"

"You know I can't, I don't know what you're doing up there anyway. Felix told us to watch the kid, not to perform in the contest."

"Relax, we'll get to him right after this round. Now Sparks, c'mon out!"

She tossed a pokeball into the arena. A capsule covered the spherical device and as it popped open, a barrage of thunder bolts shot into the air. A Pikachu erupted from the pokeball, front paws first as it spun through the air. It did a final front flip before landing on its lightning bolt shaped tail as the bolts landed in a rapid barrage all around Krystal and Sparks.

"What an amazing entrance! Krystal does an excellent job showing off her pokemon by showing off its electric type qualities! What will she do next?"

"Now Sparks, use Double Team!"

Sparks takes off running in circles, going so fast that there appears to be ten of him. His cheeks start to glow with the electricity stored in his body, brighter and brighter until the circle of Pikachu's is just a ring of dim light. As this happens the Sparks illusion soon starts to shift until the ring turns into a star. A sight which the audience and the judges all notice as they settle into a hushed awe.

"Now use Thunder Wave!"

Every part of the lit star started to shine blue as Sparks dashed to each corner at a supernatural speed. As this happened, every point of the star shot small orbs of tamed blue electricity into the center of the star. As they all met in the center, they all merged into one. The force of all of them coming from all sides caused it to slowly drift up into the air like a miniature blue model of the sun. At an angle the sun shone through it, covering the meadow in dim blue sunlight.

"Now wrap this up with Charge Beam!"

Sparks ran to the middle from the top point of the star, the shape still formed from the rapidly fading sparks that were still dancing around him. The pouches inside his cheeks focused all its power into a single point, his mouth as he opened wide and looked up. He shot a concentrated electric blast into the air at the Thunder Wave. The blast slammed into the blue ball causing it to shatter like glass into the five original Thunder Waves that rained into the ground in the star-shape that once surrounded Sparks, each one was crackling with the yellow electricity from the Charge Beam. Sparks smiled at the crowd shouting out a happy, 'Pika!'

The crowd went wild, standing up and wildly clapping their hands. Some stayed where they sat and settled with stomping their feet. The judges however just smiled at her, trying to keep their composure at the amazing appeal. Marian however seemed the most excited at all, her unoccupied hand on her cheek shouting into the microphone.

"What an shocking performance! A brilliant demonstration of the beauty of electricity! Krystal did a great job, using her star as a conductor, she created an electric sun that was rained out with a powerful Charge Beam! Now lets hear from our judges!"

"What a fantastic show of how our youth today can get together with their pokemon and come up with such an ingenious appeal!" Mr. Contesta exclaimed, beaming at the teenage girl.

"Yes remarkable!" Mr. Suziko said.

"It's wonderful to see such a well-taken care of Pikachu in this day and age. They did a wonderful job and Sparks looked happy doing it!" Nurse Joy clapped her hands together.

Marian turned to the audience after hearing all the feedback.

"Well there you have it ladies and gentleman! A great job you two, perfect reviews for that perfect performance! Now next up, is Bryce Wright!"

* * *

"C'mon Bryce!" Stormie cried as she pulled Bryce hard by his legs. He left claw marks where he previously sat. Slowly dragging the bench behind him, he clung to the seat as hard as he could. She dropped his legs for a minute to take a breath. She put her hands on her hips and scowled at him.

"It can't be that bad, it's not like you've never done a contest before. Your mom's a top coordinator!" She grabbed him by the legs again and redoubled her efforts, only succeeding in dragging the bench down after her. It was then Haunter decided to make an appearance. He noted Psy sitting on a bench nearby sound asleep and the two quarreling humans. With a chuckle he vanished into the wall once more. Meanwhile Bryce grunted as he held onto the seat he so desperately wanted to keep.

"Are...you...crazy?" He asked between each tug. "I can't...possibly...do anything like that!"

"Well...it's true...that you don't...have superior...skills. But you have to try!"

With the final cry, Haunter appeared in front of Bryce and gave him a big affectionate lick on the face. Bryce shouted out and out of instinct, reached up to wipe the ghostly saliva off of his face. While doing so, he relinquished the power he had over the bench and went flying over Stormie's head and onto the stage outside while Haunter pointed and laughed. Stormie looked back and forth between Haunter and Bryce before rubbing the back of her neck.

"Maybe I pulled too hard..."

* * *

"Hehehe, Felix never told us the kid could fly." KC joked as Bryce made his appearance on stage. "Maybe there is something to him after all."

Krystal smacked him in the back of his head, though it didn't get much of a reaction out of him. They were a fair distance away in the Floroama Pokemon Center, both looking down at a screen that received footage from Krystal's hidden camera. KC couldn't risk being recognized and with the place pretty much vacant since Nurse Joy was a judge, it was the perfect place.

"Maybe if you spent more time doing your job instead of making stupid jokes, we'd be in better shape." Krystal said with a snort.

"Well still, I don't see anything spectacular about this kid. What does M want with him?"

"Think blockhead! This kid is Lucas and Dawn's son. He has to be something special."

"Well it's not like they overthrew down Cyrus now did they?"

"They came pretty damn close, and that's all that matters. If he's as special as his parents, we'll need him to join us, especially if what we believe Team Galactic has planned is true, so shut up and watch."

* * *

Bryce grunted as he stood up, suddenly realizing there was hundreds of people staring at him in the bleachers and on camera. He stopped in his tracks and stared back for a full minute before Marian intervened, clapping hastily as though she was trying to make up for the bumbling entrance and reluctantly, everyone else followed. Bryce let out a sigh of relief.

"Ok, can't be that hard, all I have to do is throw out a pokeball, have Grotle do a few moves then return her, seems easy enough."

With that in mind he threw out Grotle's pokeball while calling out,

"Grotle, it's time!"

With a pop the pokeball opened and let out the foliaged tortoise who landed with a thud on the stage, stomping a heavy foot when she was out. Marian could tell this was Bryce's first time so as soon as Grotle came out she started to gush over the entrance.

"What a powerful looking pokemon! The heavy thud it provided just shows how much weight that Grotle throws into its attacks and the shine of its, eh, bushes shows how well its coordinator takes care of it. This just makes me wonder what these two have in store for us next!"

Bryce swallowed and took a breath before shouting out and pointing in the crowd like he did out of instinct in a battle, "Alright Grotle, Razor Leaf!"

Grotle nodded, her bushes rustling as she tilted her back at an angle towards the crowd as a Razor Leaf shot out at them. For a moment, the audience waited for something unexpected to happen like it usually did with professional coordinators. But as the attack came closer and closer, they soon realized this was a mistake and abandoned their spots to avoid the sharp leaves. "Mad Grotle!" Somebody called out, Bryce however was oblivious to this, thinking he was doing a good job so far and decided to try combinations.

"Ok now Grotle, Tackle then Bite!"

Grotle ran as fast as she could towards her "opponent" which happened to be Mr. Contesta's judging podium and rammed into it, causing a huge hole to appear in it, just large enough for her to run through the other side where Mr. Contesta was and bite him on the leg.

"Yah! Call him off!" He shouted as he shook his leg to try and rid himself of the heavy grass type. Bryce finally realized what he was doing and raised her pokeball to return her in a red beam of light. There was silence, no applause, no commentary from Marian, and only frowns came from the judge until Mr. Suziko stood up and said,

"Remarkably frightening."

* * *

Krystal glowered where she sat, her partner, the boy who was always trying to act so cool around her, the Copycat Bandit himself, was on the ground laughing out loud. He was holding his ribs as though they were about to crack in two and his hat fell off to the side.

"Hahaha!" He guffawed between peals of laughter. "He attacked the audience!"

Krystal let out an impatient sigh before pulling him off the ground by his ear which immediately ended the outburst.

"I know, I just saw it too." She said between her teeth as Bryce made a hasty retreat from the stage onscreen.

"So _that's_ the kid who's supposed to save us from Team Galactic?"

"Well from what Felix said I expected a lot more!"

"Whatever, all I know is I was right, so pay up."

Krystal grumbled as she reached into her pocket and pulled out 100 Pokes and slapped it into his outstretched palm.

* * *

'Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Haunt!' laughed Haunter as he tumbled through the air with laughter. As Bryce entered the dressing room, every coordinator looked at him and most of them laughed out loud while some looked in fear at Grotle's pokeball. Bryce had his head bowed in humiliation as everyone spared no mercy at his expense.

"Hey cut it out! It's his first contest!" A voice suddenly cried out as a someone stood next to him and helped him to a bench. This barely helped at all, but Bryce was thankful that someone stood up for him and found the person was Stormie. He tore off his bow tie and buried his face in his hands. His cheeks were tinted red from both embarrassment and the fact that Stormie's hand was patting his back in an attempt of consolation.

"Don't take beat yourself up, everyone's first contest is hard."

Bryce looked up with a raised eyebrow and a doubtful expression.

"So you attacked the judges and sent the crowd into mass terror during your first contest?"

"Ok, maybe not that hard."

He groaned at the words and buried his face into his hands once more, most of the coordinators had gotten over the appeal already except for the frightened ones who still kept an eye on Grotle's pokeball. Stormie heard a few muffled words come from Bryce's hands and pulled Bryce up by his hair. He winced before she let go and repeated,

"I'm not even a coordinator like my mom, I'm a pokemon trainer. I don't worry about how my moves look, I just think of what my opponent's weak against, figure out a strategy, then find the best way to pull them off."

"Well is a contest really that different?"

"What do you mean by that?"

Stormie shifted in her seat a bit, crossing her legs and developing a thoughtful expression on her face. She sat for a minute before speaking.

"Well, like you say, in contests we worry about how our moves look, but we also have to figure out the best ways to pull them off while trying to find the best way to show our pokemon off at the same time. Either way you look at it, battling or contests, they're both different ways of showing off how our pokemon shine."

Bryce blinked, looking at her for a moment before shrugging.

"Well I guess, but I'm still not willing to try that again, I'm surprised I haven't been banned..."

Stormie snorted before rubbing her nose in an attempt to cover it up as a sneeze.

"Well in any case, I can tell we're not rivals." She said before looking up at the screen. She shot out of her seat, put a protesting Abra into his lap, and zoomed out of the room before Bryce could even ask what happened. He blinked and looked at after her before Haunter floated in front of him, pointing and laughing.

With a mumble, he ignored him and started chasing after Psy who started teleporting all over the room after Stormie left.

* * *

"Now making her Sinnoh Debut, Stormie Matthews!"

Stormie ran out, grabbing her knees and breathing hard. Marian blinked at her and smiled at the crowd before cupping her hand over the mike and whispering to Stormie, "You ok?" Stormie hastily nodded before standing up and grabbing a pokeball from the inside of her jacket. She quickly snapped a capsule around it before tossing it in front of her.

"Now's your time Combusken!"

As the pokeball opened it seemed to burst into flames as crackling embers shot up into the air and rained down around the fowl who did her signature front flip in front of her trainer and landed on her feet giving a thumbs up to the audience. Without waiting for Marian to get a word in, Stormie immediately started her appeal.

"Now Combusken, Sand Attack then Fire Spin!"

Combusken stuck her leg out and spun in a circle kicking up a large amount of sand. Then before all of them could fall to the ground, she looked up and opened her beak. Spiraling, a flame shot out and started to fan out as it got went higher, engulfing all the sand in a controlled inferno. The sudden heat increase caused the sand surrounding her to turn into a column of glass fell when she finished her attack. The inside was hollow so the pokemon was virtually unharmed. She suddenly came flying from the inside of the glass tube she created and landed behind it where the audience couldn't see her.

"Now Focus Energy!"

Combusken nodded and put her hands together, taking shallow breaths as she concentrated. Marian used the small break in the chain of events as an opportunity to continue her commentary.

"And Combusken shows off both its fire and fighting abilities to create a huge column of glass that is competing with the stage's size itself! Now Stormie has decided to use Focus Energy as her next move! But what can a move that makes the user find its opponent's weak point have to do with this appeal?"

Combusken's eyes snapped open, she had apparently found what she was looking for and this didn't go unnoticed by Stormie.

"Double Kick then Ember!"

Combusken leaped up in front of the column until she was roughly around the middle and kicked it hard, flying backwards from the impact. This assault left a crack in the glass, she immediately flew forward again and kicked the glass hard causing the crack to spread throughout the fragile sheet glass and shatter into pieces. Combusken landed in front of Stormie and opened her beak wide, a barrage of fireballs emerged, slamming into most of the glass shards and making them shatter even further until they were nothing more than sparkling dust that rained down onto the wooden stage. Combusken ran a claw across her beak and gave a thumbs up to the crowd.

* * *

"Gah it's about time! I see why Nurse Joy was so quick to get rid of these two!"

He was holding Psy by the tail at the moment, while he was teleporting it was the only thing he could come in contact with, but this wasn't so for long. In a blue flash the Abra went to the other side of the room while Haunter was pulling on his spiky hair. The rest of the coordinators were all backed against the wall with mixed emotions of amusement, confusion, and wariness. Combusken strode into the room long before Stormie and closed her eyes for a moment before leaping to the side and snaring the Abra, and before it could move, Haunter looked it hard in the eyes until it sat still.

"Showoffs." Bryce muttered. "So how'd you do?"

"What you didn't see our appeal?"

"Hello-o!" He said motioning towards Haunter and Psy who were both on the other side of the bench.

Holding her mouth to cover a snicker, Stormie scooped up the Abra who slumped into her arms as though her presence removed Mean Eye's effect.

"Well I'd say we did a pretty good job, I mean we should, we have been working hard."

"Pssh, well I doubt you could've done better than that Pikachu girl."

"Watch it, I don't need a Focus Energy to tell where your weak points are."

As Bryce instinctively covered his crotch, Marian's voice came on the screen.

"And now, here are the next eight coordinators moving on to the next round!"

Stormie's attention immediately went to the screen. As the pictures went up one by one she squeezed Psy harder and harder until he started to squirm in the preteen's arms. Finally, her face showed up as the fifth contestant and she released her death grip on the Abra.

"Yes! I made it!" She cried out beaming at the screen.

"I wouldn't celebrate if I were you, look who's in first place so far."

Stormie did exactly that and immediately squeezed the Psychic pokemon harder than before, causing him to teleport into Bryce's arms, much to his surprise.

"Krystal the Pikachu girl?" She asked in disbelief, there was no possibly way she could defeat a trainer like that, she had insanely powerful moves, amazing combinations, and if that wasn't enough, she looked good doing it.

"How can I possibly compete with that?"

There was a tap on her shoulder and Haunter met her eyes, chuckling devilishly while casually tossing himself a bomb with one hand. Stormie sighed, licked a finger and grabbed the wick, extinguishing the flame. Looking a bit dejected Haunter swallowed the useless bomb.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll do fine, I mean you're moving on to the next round so that has to mean something right?"

Stormie just sort of shrugged and stood up, returning Haunter to his pokeball and attached it to the inside of her jacket. Bryce watched her go before turning to Psy.

"Is she always like this?"

* * *

"Please welcome the contestants moving on to the second round!"

The stands echoed with the applause of the excitable crowd who sat in front of the said contestants before Marian moved on.

"In this round the coordinator will choose one pokemon to battle with. Each coordinator will be paired off to battle each other. When the coordinator's pokemon is KO'ed, their points go down to zero, or whoever has the lowest points when time runs out loses and their competitor will move on to the next round! Now lets see who will be battling each other in Round 2!"

As she said this, she waved her arm towards the immense screen that was above the stage. All of the pictures started to scramble around until a ding was heard. Four of the pictures went to the top of the screen and the other four to the bottom, every pair was connected by a line and to Stormie's relief, hers wasn't connected to Krystal's.

"Here are our next two contestants!"

As she said this, the first two coordinators on the screen's pictures were blown up to feel the screen. Each going to the opposite end of the screen with a wheel filled with yellow underneath them. Krystal was on the right, and on the left was the boy who just barely made it with his juggling Machamp. He was a teenager, maybe about thirteen with greasy black hair that was managed by tying it back into a ponytail. His jacket was raggedy and his pants had patches in them, but whether this was how he dressed up for a contest or not was beyond him.

"To the left we have Vince from Pastoria City! To the right we have Stormie all the way from the Hoenn region. You may release your pokemon!"

Stormie took out a pokeball from her jacket and threw it in front of her.

"It's your time Haunter!"

The pokeball burst open, emitting a black fog that spewed out, hiding the ghost pokemon's entrance before he popped up in front of a camera, laughing his spooky laugh. His face was blown up on the second screen that was provided for people who sat in the back, making most everyone jump.

Vince dug around in his pockets for a little while before pulling out a dirty pokeball and throwing it out.

"Go Croagunk, I guess..."

A small toad pokemon appeared, slouched over in a midst of purple smoke. He made no attempt to make any kind of dazzling appearance. The orange pouches that were his cheeks would inflate with every breath he took as he uttered a soft, 'Croa...Croa...Croa...'

* * *

"Whoa! What kind of pokemon is that?"

Bryce was now sitting in the stands, a sleeping Psy sitting in his lap. There was no point in remaining in the dressing rooms since he was no longer in the contest and apparently, as long as Stormie was in sight, the Abra was ok. Bryce pulled out his pokedex and scanned the toad.

**Croagunk, the Toxic Mouth Pokemon. It tries to catch foes off guard to jab them with its toxic fingers. By inflating its poison sacs, it makes an eerie blubbering sound for intimidation.**

"Is it just me, or does Croagunk look an awful lot like its trainer?"

* * *

"Now lets get busy!" Marian shouted after the pokemon had been released. As she said this the timer started to count down from five minutes. (Here's where I stop Marian's commentary for a while, it'll be sort of irritating to have to type exactly what I just described between every move)

"Croagunk, uh... use Poison Sting."

The crouching toad opened his mouth, taking a huge breath as his cheek sacs inflated. With a 'Croagunk!', he exhaled hard, expelling hundreds of purple needles towards Haunter who just grinned before opening his mouth wide and swallowed them. After sloshing the needles in his mouth around for a bit, he spat them out one by one in a pile on the ground. With the poison drained, they were nothing more than plain white needles. The display caused Vince's points to go down until a quarter of his wheel was white.

"Ok, uh, lets use Brick Break."

Croagunk leaped into the air with his powerful toad legs, high above the stage, his black and orange hand glowing with a bright white light. With his hand flat and the side of it aiming at Haunter, he came flying down towards his head. Haunter once again just sat there, polishing his claws against his body before inspecting them, unimpressed. The Fighting type soon came flying down, the air whistling around him due to the speed of the fall but the attack went right through it and hit the floorboards, cracking three of them in half. As he tried to yank it out, he found his hand was caught between the broken wood. The amphibian frantically tried to pull his arm out, but he was at the mercy of his opponent who finally decided it was time to launch an attack.

"Haunter, use Lick!"

Haunter drifted lazily towards the struggling toad and grinned at him before opening his mouth. He let out his tongue and rapidly ran it upwards under Croagunk's chin, raising his chin into the air. Croagunk immediately stilled, his body still managed to twitch every now and again but his efforts to pull his arm out of the boards ended while the ghost drifted back, his eyes already flashing with black before he even heard Stormie shout,

"Now Night Shade!"

Jagged black and violet beams shot out of Haunter's eyes, slamming into the Croagunk's exposed chin. 'Crooooooa!' He cried out as he went flying through the air, his eyes were clenched shut in pain but his teeth were still exposed, his smile now more like a grimace.

"Uh, Poison Sting?"

Vince was obviously confused but Croagunk obliged anyway. He bent his arms and legs so they were facing behind him so rather than slamming into the wall, he clung to it. He inhaled once again, taking a deep breath as his pouches filled up with the poison needles. He was so busy with this task that he barely noticed the cry of "Sucker Punch!" before Haunter appeared out of nowhere next to him. With a ghastly chuckle, his shadowy fist hit him hard on the top of the head. The fighting type went flying into the ground with a loud crack, he had broken a few more floorboards.

'Croa...'

His mouth opened a little, letting a couple of his Poison Stings fall out of his mouth. All the judges frowned and pressed a button, displaying a large X on each of their podiums to represent that they all agreed the pokemon was out for the count.

* * *

"Now here are our finalists for the Floaroma Town ribbon! To the right we have Krystal from... Uh,"

Marian cupped a hand over her mic and leaned over to Krystal.

"Where are you from?"

"That's classified."

Looking a bit flustered from the icy comment, Marian continued her commentary after a glance at Krystal.

"Well to the right we have Krystal, who chooses to keep her hometown confidential, and to the left we have Stormie from Hoenn! One of these two will be one ribbon closer to the Sinnoh Grand Festival that will be held this Summer, while the other will dwell in the dwindling depths of defeat."

At this comment Stormie clenched her fists, she took shallow breaths but her eyes were fierce. She was determined to win this ribbon and after getting this far and she wasn't going to let Pikachu Girl get in her way. As soon as Marian gave the word, she hurled out Haunter's pokeball which let out the same smoke as it did before. Haunter didn't care who this girl was, he just knew he'd take her down like he did the Croagunk, and the Zubat. Cracking his knuckles he dove at the canid pokemon she had just released, hands outstretched.

"Aura Sphere, then Bone Rush!"

The pokemon waved its paws around its body and put them together, a sphere of blue energy forming between them. But rather than aiming it at Haunter like he suspected, it aimed it at the ground and fired. The force of the blow causing him to fly into the air. When he was over Haunter, he put his paws together then drew them apart revealing a bone shaped object which he swung at the ghost. It slammed into his back and with wide eyes he went flying through the boards, too surprised to phase through he made a gaping hole in the wood.

Haunter crawled through the hole groaning while one hand grasped his aching head. Shaking his head as if in a daze, one of his rare frowns appeared on his face as he glowered at the Lucario who still held his weapon. One paw was out, open-palmed, while the other was held straight out behind him with the Aura Bone softly pulsing. As Haunter rose into the air, an expression slowly appeared on his face that he rarely ever expressed.

* * *

Bryce's eyes widened. What kind of pokemon could this be to send Haunter flying through the floor and make him frown. He pulled out his pokedex and scanned the canine.

**Lucario the Aura Pokemon. It has the ability to sense the auras of all things. By catching the aura emanating from others, it can read their thoughts and movements.**

_What is this?_

Psy stirred from his sleep in the male human's arms. His mother wasn't around so he had allowed him to be the primary caretaker for now. He shifted in his arms as he became more aware of the spike of energy. It was hard to tell exactly what it was because his telekinetic abilities were still in their premature stage, but he could pinpoint where it was coming from. Looking towards the stage he spotted his friend Haunter and his opponent. Though there was a large wave of energy coming from the other pokemon, it was not the spike, it had simply caused it. After looking around, probing with his mind, he found it. With a soft, 'Braaaaaa." he teleported in a flash to the outside of the meadow.

A jagged pink triangle met his eyes as reached his destination. As he reached out to touch it, an amazing surge of energy filled his body. He felt confident he could take it back to his mother's friend and show it off. He concentrated hard on his body and the rectangular object and teleported back into the boy's lap. The boy had been so intent on the match he didn't even notice that Psy had been missing. Psy turned the object around in his small hands, on one side were the unintelligible markings of the Human Glyph, while the other side had a shape that ran off the hard pink object.

He noticed that if it was any other time, he would have teleported the rock along with the object, but while holding the plate, he was able to hone his Psychic abilities and bring only the plate. He decided that maybe he'd hold onto it just a bit longer before showing it to mother.


	16. Bryce vs Stormie: The Buizel Showdown!

Ch. 16: Bryce vs. Stormie: The Buizel Showdown!

Haunter snarled at the Lucario, it was time to get serious about this battle. He covered his eyes with both claws as Stormie called out, "Night Shade!" He kept the claws on his eyes to keep the beams contained for as long as he could. When he put down his claws, the familiar black and violet beams shot out of his eyes, even larger than when he used them before as they raced towards the canid in a jagged trail.

"Catch it then Dark Pulse!"

"C-Catch it?" Stormie asked bewildered before he saw what the trainer meant. Her Lucario took his Aura Bone and spun it in front of him like a baton until the ends were nothing more than a blur. As the Night Shade approached, it caught the ghastly attack with the rapid spinning. When he finally stopped, she noticed that the bone was a mixture of pulsing black and violet as though it was corrupted by the Night Shade. He then held the bone out firmly in front of him, expelling the previous Night Shade into a wave of darkness directly at Haunter who was once again too surprised to react and went flying into a wooden pillar supporting the stage.

With a thud, Haunter hit the hard wood, arching his back in pain before he recovered and drifted back to the stage, eyeing the Lucario as it pushed both paws together to make the bone disappear. Stormie started to realize she was pausing between every attack, she usually expected her attacks to connect so this was different for her. As she looked up at the scoreboard, she realized while she had lost half of her points, Krystal still had all of hers and there was three minutes left on the clock. She grinded her teeth in frustration, Krystal always seemed to be a step ahead of her, she was the very definition of a strategist, but she knew that she'd have to make a move.

"Alright Haunter, we can do this!" She shouted to him, "Time to use Shadow Punch!"

With a malicious chuckle and a grim smile on his face, Haunter clenched his fist shut as his fist was enveloped in the same black and violet aura he used for his Night Shade. With the chuckle echoing throughout the stage, he vanished much to the surprise of the canid.

"Detect Lucario!"

This order couldn't have come at a better time. Lucario closed his eyes, his ears rising to sense the aura around him. A dim blue light surrounded him as he sensed everyone around him, to him, everything was outlined in blue. There was the girl in front of him, his loyal friend and trainer Krystal behind him, and there in the shadows on the top of the stage was the Haunter. As it came swooping down to hit him in the head, he ducked. "Don't stop Haunter!" The girl exclaimed as the Haunter continued its efforts, punching repeatedly at the pokemon, Lucario ducked and weaved around each and every one until he heard his trainer call out, "Foresight Lucario! Then Force Palm!"

With a final back flip, Lucario dodged yet another Shadow Punch and his eyes snapped open, the Haunter still outlined in blue. He grabbed his right arm with his left hand and let his paw drag along the ground, gathering the aura from around them into his paw before he reached the Haunter. He stuck his paw out on Haunter, open-palmed, and shot it out in one great burst which shot into Haunter's body. With a grimace, the ghost went flying off for the third time and hit the ground, this time it didn't get back up as the judges all entered an X in their podiums.

"And after an extraordinary battle, the winner of the Floaroma Contest is Krystal!"

Marian held up Krystal's hand in the air as recognition of the victor and the crowd went wild. Stomping their feet and applauding wildly while Lucario stood next to her with his arms crossed as if he couldn't care less. The judges stood behind them with smiles on their face. Mr. Suziko on the left, Nurse Joy on the right, and Mr. Contesta in the middle. After the announcement, Lucario and Krystal turned around to Mr. Contesta who held out a gold medal with two ribbon tags hanging off the side of it.

"I am proud to present you with the Floaroma Contest Ribbon." He said with a smile. Krystal returned the smile as well but pushed a hand out to close his fingers around the offered gift.

"Thank you, but with good conscience, I'm afraid I can't accept this. I don't intend to enter the Grand Festival, this was just for fun."

There was a questionable murmur and a bewildered look from Mr. Contesta and Nurse Joy while Mr. Suziko just murmured, "Remarkable..." Marian tugged at the collar of her vest before she spoke into the microphone again.

"Ladies and gentleman, it seems Krystal has decided to forfeit her victory rights. Which means Stormie from the Hoenn Region wins by default!"

* * *

The rain softly hit the window panes in nature's never-ending rhythm. Bryce woke stretching and yawning as he usually did. He rubbed his eyes and leaped out from the top bunk. He turned around to wake up Stormie but found she was already awake, with Psy next to her sound asleep and Haunter nowhere in sight. She was fully clothed and was staring at the Floaroma Ribbon in her hands with a sort of distant look in her eyes. Bryce snapped twice to catch her attention, but when he found this didn't work, he waved a hand in front of her eyes. She shook her head as if waking up from a dream and looked at him.

"Hmm?"

"Are you ok?"

Stormie shook her head warily but responded, "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine."

"I just can't get what Krystal said out of my head. 'Contest Battles aren't just about brute force. Although your appeal was impressive, you must do your best to show off both your pokemon and their moves. Otherwise it's no better than a gym battle.'"

She recited this word from word as if she had done nothing but thought about it ever since the girl's words have been uttered out of her mouth. Bryce shook his head in disbelief.

"You can't just sit around moping, you did win after all."

"By default."

"Well you did manage to beat all those other trainers."

"By ruthlessly attacking them with no regard of how my moves looked."

"But you did manage to beat them all with one pokemon."

"Only to have him KO'ed immediately in the last round."

Frustrated, Bryce pulled at his spikey hair and retreated into the bathroom to get dressed. No sooner had he closed the door, he ran out with a quick yelp. Krystal looked up at him, a little irritated that she'd been disturbed.

"What is it?"

"Why didn't you tell me Haunter likes to sleep in the mirror?"

* * *

"It's not funny!"

It was later the same day that Bryce had discovered the ghost haunting the bathroom mirror and he had decided to call his mother about the previous events but his mother along with her Empoleon, Stunky, Lopunny, Pachirisu, Mamoswine, Togekiss and Quilava had all heard and were laughing at his expense. His cheeks red, Bryce clenched his fists against his sides, it was frustrating watching his mother giggle with a hand covering her mouth in a bad attempt of hiding her amusement.

"Well hopefully you've picked up your father's battling skills." Dawn replied after she had calmed down and shooed the other pokemon out of the room.

"Yeah hopefully, but I meant to talk to you about something else."

Dawn raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yeah, it's about Stormie. She's been feeling a little crummy ever since the contest."

Dawn nodded as if she understood and Bryce went to retrieve the gloomy girl and went to watch TV while the girls talked.

* * *

"What's so funny?"

Stormie only shook her head and giggle some more. They were in front of the Pokemon Center, each with their own umbrella and she'd been giggling ever since she got off the phone with his mother, with one hand holding the umbrella and one under Abra. He scratched his head through his beret and shrugged, it must of been a girl thing. But deep down, he couldn't help but think that it was something about him.

"Well, it was nice to meet you Stormie."

Bryce said, extending his hand towards her to shake it. Instead, she pushed her hand out and pushed his hand away.

"I've been thinking," She started, looking at her feet. "Well, since I'm further into reaching my goal, maybe I could come along and give you some tips, and maybe your mom (being a Top Coordinator) could help me."

Haunter floated out through the Center's glass doors and made kissing noises before Stormie hit him with her umbrella. Bryce nodded, blushing even more than before and looking down at his feet while mumbling a few flustered, "S-Sure, I-I guess you c-can come."

Stormie beamed at him and gave her umbrella to the recovering Haunter and hooked an arm through Bryce's free arm, if anything to embarrass him. "So where're we going?"

Bryce looked away from her and looked off to the left of the town where a river was flowing under a bridge. He remembered from studying his map that morning that in the direction should be Eterna Forest and then, "Eterna City to battle Gardenia."

Stormie nodded and started walking off in that direction with the bright red Bryce in tow.

'Bui Bui!'

Through the rain a blue and orange streak flashed in the air, striking a blue fish with a tail that slightly resembled a Beautifly that had leaped into the air with the obvious intent to attack. The fish fell into the water with a "Plop!" While the streak dove into the water and poked its head out to make sure its opponent was out of it. To his disappointment, the fish poked its head out of the water and swirled around, its winged shaped tail facing the otter and started swishing its tail at a furious rate, a gust of wind building before launching it at the mammalian pokemon.

'Buizel!' The pokemon leaped out of the water once more and did a barrel roll, its tails launching a blade of wind towards the gust, breaking through the Gust and hitting the fish once more. Stormie and Bryce watched this spectacle from the sidelines and had their mouths open in awe, mostly at the Buizel. Bryce took out his pokedex and scanned both pokemon.

**Buizel, the Sea Weasel Pokemon. It swims by rotating its two tails like a screw. This pokemon has a flotation sack that is like an inflatable collar.**

**Finneon, the Wing Fish Pokemon. After long exposure to sunlight, the patterns on its tail fins shine vividly when darkness arrives. The way its two tail fins flutter while it swims has earned it the nickname "Beautifly of the Sea."**

At the last hit from the Sonicboom, the fish fell under the surface like before, but this time it floated to the surface with its eyes closed. Satisfied, Buizel inflated its collar and dove under the water, its two white spots on its back disappearing as it went deeper.

"That was amazing!" Bryce finally exclaimed before fingering an empty pokeball next to Lash's absentmindedly. Unfortunately, Stormie noticed this small movement and turned towards him with a grin, Haunter still holding her umbrella under his head.

"I hope you're not thinking about catching that Buizel."

Bryce turned to her and blinked, not fully catching on to what she meant. Stormie noticed the confused expression on his face and rolled her eyes.

"You can't catch a pokemon if someone already owns it!"

His eyes widened as he finally caught on. "No way! You already have three pokemon on your team!"

"Psy doesn't count, he can't battle yet."

Bryce grinded his teeth, it was enough that coordinators sent moves back at their opponents but their words? Stormie noticed his frustration and turned to him with a confident smirk on her face.

"How about this? Whoever can catch the Buizel first wins."

"What does the winner get?"

After thinking it over a bit she responded, "The satisfaction of owning the Buizel, or as he's soon to be called, 'Jet'"

Bryce nodded before raising a brow. "How do you know it's a he?"

"The two spots on its back, duh! Now ready, set, go!" She shouted before dashing off with the chuckling Haunter in her wake.

* * *

Bryce crouched in the bushes with his red and black hoodie covering his head. Both Lash and Grotle sat next to him, Grotle sitting quietly, soaking up the rain while Lash held his tongue over his head, reluctantly drinking the rainwater.

"So do you remember the plan?" Bryce whispered, still looking around for any sign of Stormie. They both nodded, Lash frowning as he experienced a slight hint of Déjà Vu at the pile of berries in front of them. He hated having to take off his sunglasses, but he had to put them in the pack, otherwise, they'd get dirty and the only thing he could clean them with would be his tongue. As they all watched and waited, a figure seemed to float out of the rain, its eyes red but as it approached them, Bryce realized it was just a trick of the light and what they had actually seen was the bright-eyed Buizel who leaped upoun the berries with relish. Bryce grinned, realizing how lucky he was that this had happened so early. In a hushed whisper he ordered, "Now Lash!"

Lash's tongue whipped out like a striking Ekans and went towards the Buizel, attempting to use Wrap to immobilize it, but to their surprise it went right through it. The Buizel turned around and flashed them a smile that was oddly familiar, but Bryce disregarded this and pointed towards it again.

"Ok Grotle, lets nail it with a Tackle!"

Grotle nodded and started to run, but it realized that this was the first time that it had actually needed its speed and stumbled over its feet. It turned out that it was hard to gain over fifty pounds and expect to keep its speed. Bryce frowned and rushed out into the open with Lash by his side.

"Lash, Lick!"

Lash's tongue darted forward once more, this time aiming towards the otter and licking it, slowly dragging its tongue across its body. In response to this attack, the Buizel stopped moving and started to twitch. That's when Bryce noticed something was off, were Buizel's always purple? His question was soon answered as the Buizel's body started to change, growing larger until it's hind legs receded into its body and it started to float in the air. Even though it was still twitching, it wore a pained smile.

"Haunter?" He asked surprised before dashing towards the riverbank, this whole thing was a diversion! As proof, he spotted Stormie with her umbrella and Psy in one arm. Combusken was out of her pokeball and stood poised in a Tai-Kwon-Do pose, it had obviously been fighting and both Buizel and Combusken were breathing heavily to prove it.

"Ok Combusken, I know it's hard for you to fight in the rain, but a little more should do it!"

Combusken nodded, still panting hard, this Buizel was fast, but both Stormie and her had known about its Swift Swim before challenging it so it was to be expected. Buizel was wearing a cocky smile, though on the inside, it was nervous. It obviously had the advantage, but the pokemon had it on the ropes, it couldn't last much longer and they all knew it.

"Now Combusken, Double Kick!"

'Combusken!' It cried as it leaped forward with its foot flying towards the orange mammal. Buizel leaped back, dodging the first kick and ducked, avoiding the second one. It gathered the rain around it to cover its body and went flying like a missile towards the fowl, hitting it directly in the chest. When this was done, the momentum caused it to ricochet off the flailing bird's chest into the air and it fired a Water Gun in nowhere in particular. Causing it to fly back towards the river.

"Oh no you don't!" Stormie cried as she hurled a pokeball in the Buizel's direction as it dove into the water. The pokeball's light turned a dim red, it had obviously caught something, this was plain to see. But would the Buizel stay in? It wiggled once, twice, then the light went out and the homing device in the pokemon caused it to fly back into the trainer's hand, just as Lash, Haunter, and Grotle arrived on the scene.

Stormie finally noticed the group and gave them a winning wink, and with a sigh, Bryce returned his pokemon.

* * *

Buizel poked its head out of its water and looked around. Had the girl left? With a satisfied smirk, the Buizel swam away to confront its next opponent.


	17. Bryce's Omen

A/N: I posted my favorite pokemon by type in my profile. I have two reasons for doing this, 1. So you can get to know me a little better. And 2. To let you know what pokemon my characters will probably catch. Now don't think, "Oh, since these are his favorite pokemon, these are pokemon his characters will catch in all his stories." If you thought this, then you are absolutely wrong :P Actually the exact opposite, that is to say, if the pokemon's on the list, they probably won't be caught by a main character. (Maybe seen in a lot of my stories, but not caught. So sorry folks, no Buizel, I love that little furball too much for any of the chars to catch it xD)

Once again, I have to reasons why, 1. I don't want my stories to become one of those stories where it's basically just summarizing what the author did in their D/P Game, I mean, if we wanted to know, we'd just play our game :/ No offense if you wrote one of those stories and you're reading this. 2. I'm hoping by making my characters catch pokemon that I'm not particularly fond of, I'll gain a greater appreciation for them. (Except Dunsparce. You will never see it in any of my stories, I hate that thing! Creepy appearance and sucky moves, who needs it anyway? I only caught it to complete my pokedex and now it's just sitting around in My Pokemon Ranch getting picked on by my Gliscor, Wailord, and Stunky. He he he :})

* * *

Ch. 17: Bryce's Omen

"I caught a Buizel!"

"Shut up."

"I caught a Buizel!"

"Shut up!"

"I caught a Buizel!"

"SHUT UP!"

She had been singing this song long after the rain had stopped and even now as they approached the Eterna Forest, she continued to skip in an unusually girly fashion for her, and sing her little gloating song. They had returned all their pokemon, except for Psy and Haunter, while Stormie danced around flaunting Jet's pokeball in her right hand. Haunter drifted from left to right beside her chuckling as usual while Psy was sleeping in her arms. Bryce stomped his foot in frustration in front of the vast trees.

"If you're going to brag about that Buizel the whole time, we might as well go our separate ways right now!"

Stormie shrugged, "I'd like to see you try that, in this forest, pokemon like to pair up and attack unsuspecting trainers. But fine I'll stop."

With a sigh of relief, they kept walking before the ghost drifting with them started to sing a song in a tune that was very similar, if not exactly the same to Stormie's.

'Haunt Haunter Haunt Haunt!'

* * *

In the still of the forest, the two trainers walked while Haunter had a large knot on its head, rubbing it gingerly while Bryce had a satisfied smile on his face. The trees were so thick that the branches overhead practically blocked out the sun, shading the ground around them in green sunlight. After a while Stormie sighed while Bryce looked at his map once more in confusion.

"Just admit it, you're lost." She grumbled after Bryce turned it around and upside down for the umpteenth time. He blushed before turning his face and proclaiming, "We're not lost! Just taking a slight detour!"

"But we just passed that green rock for the fifth time!"

"Please, I'm sure there's a lot of green rocks."

"Oh yeah?"

She turned around and covered her eyes with a hand while she recited, "It's triangular with moss growing all around it. The tall grass ends two feet away from it and a sliver of sunlight is shining on the top of it."

Bryce looked at it and blinked before mumbling, "Lucky guess."

"Just admit it, we're lost."

"Fine! We're lost!" He finally admitted looking around before putting away his map. He realized that he probably should've caught a Starly or some other Flying type by now.

"It's getting dark." Stormie announced as she looked up. Bryce looked around, the green sunlight seemed as bright as ever.

"What makes you say that?"

She pointed into the branches as she said, "Look."

Bryce looked up and spotted a black winged pokemon perched on a branch looking at them. Its head seemed to have a series of feathers shaped like a witch's hat as it cocked its head to the side to stare at them. It ruffled its feathers for hopping a bit closer to them onto a lower branch. Bryce pulled out his pokedex and scanned it.

**Murkrow, the Darkness Pokemon. It appears near travelers to lure them into deep forests. Feared and loathed by many, it is believed to bring misfortune to all those who see it at night.**

When Bryce put it away, Bryce turned when he heard muttered words and spotted Stormie with her hands clapped together in prayer while Haunter held Psy for the time being with his head bowed. He managed to catch her say, "Lucky, uki, mai ki ki." Before her words faded away. When she finished, he cocked an eyebrow at her while she received the Psychic pokemon from Haunter.

"What was that?"

"It's a chant to ward away Murkrow's bad luck."

Bryce scoffed as he looked up at the sky in disbelief. "Please, you believe in that sort of thing?"

"You don't?"

He laughed as he pulled an empty pokeball from his belt. "Of course I don't! In fact, I'll catch it and it'll help us out of the forest just to prove my point!"

'Buneary!'

Just then there was a hard thud on the back of his head as he fell face first into the mossy ground. He sputtered and stood up, spitting out moss, dirt and leaves while Haunter laughed and pointed. There on the ground in front of him was a small rabbit with white fur covering its legs and feet. Its arms and legs were bent as though it was getting ready to leap again. His pokedex chimed in his pocket as the sensor picked up the new arrival.

**Buneary, the Rabbit Pokemon. It slams foes by sharply uncoiling its rolled ears. It stings enough to make a grown-up cry in pain.**

Stormie just shrugged. "I told you pokemon like to team up on trainers in this forest, if you want that Murkrow, we're going to have to get past its little friend first."

Bryce just scoffed. "It's just a Buneary, like it can do much."

Without saying anything else, he hurled the pokeball at the crow over its head.

'Buneary!' Came an angered cry as it jumped up and reflected the pokeball with a cushioned ear. The sphere came corralling back and slammed into Bryce's face, leaving a large red mark.

"It think it heard you."

"Well aren't you going to help?"

Stormie grinned and took out her most recently obtained pokemon much to Bryce's displeasure. "You only needed to ask."

Bryce pulled his pokeball out as well and hurled it in front of the Buneary. "Go Lash!"

The large pink pokemon wielding his sunglasses appeared in front of him with his tongue out. The Buneary leaped as a reflex and shot a foot out to kick the pokemon in the chest. "Defense Curl!" Lash inhaled a large amount of air, puffing his chest out as the Jump Kick hit it in the inflated area, successfully reflecting it as the rabbit went flying back. "Now Wrap, then Supersonic!" The Lickitung's tongue shot out and flew towards the Normal type's body. Unable to maneuver in mid-air, the Buneary was helpless as the very wet and sticky weapon wrapped itself around its small body. With a sharp crack like a whip, it constricted as the Lickitung opened its mouth and emitted a high pitched screech in its direction.

It was then the black crow swooped down from the branches and started to peck rapidly at the pink pokemon's tongue. Lash winced as the volume decreased on its Supersonic but didn't let up. He persevered as the Murkrow continued to peck over and over with its sharp pointed beak. Bryce clenched his fist and turned to Stormie who was watching the Murkrow intently.

"Aren't you going to do anything?" He demanded as the black pokemon kept up its relentless pecking on poor Lash's tongue. She said nothing in response and as the Murkrow flew back to land a final blow that would ensure the release of its partner, she finally hurled out the pokeball at it crying, "Go Jet, Aqua Jet!" The pokeball shot out a red beam, letting out a pokemon in mid-air in front of the hovering Murkrow. But instead of the sleek body of the Buizel they had all been expecting, out came a round pokemon with a long flat bill. Its clawed hands held the sides of its head as it let out an inquisitive, 'Psy?' Before falling through the air like a rock and hitting its head.

**Psyduck, the Duck Pokemon. It has mystical powers but doesn't recall that it has used them, that is why it always looks puzzled. When its headache intensifies, it starts using strange powers.**

The battle paused for a moment as the duck jumped up running around as it gripped at its pained head crying, 'Psy-y-y-y-y-y!'

Everyone stopped and stared at the pokemon that was obviously in pain from the fall. After what seemed like an hour passed by, a chuckle came from Haunter, followed by a cackle by the Murkrow until everyone burst out laughing at Stormie's expense: Haunter, Bryce, Lash, Buneary, Murkrow, and even Psy who had woken up to the commotion was having a good laugh at the dopey Psyduck. Stormie clenched her fists and turned bright red, so mad that anyone could think that she'd probably let out a Flamethrower at the yellow duck. This turned out to be a mistake, while Lash let out his muffled laughter, he relaxed the muscles in his tongue and released the Buneary who smirked and did a somersault, slamming its ears into the Lickitung's head.

"Bryce!"

Bryce covered his mouth trying to hide his amusement as he turned to his Double Battle partner.

"This pokemon can't be completely useless! Give me some moves!"

"Knock Off!" As Stormie called out the order to the duck, Bryce shook his head. "Not you! Lash!" Lash's tongue whipped out with the familiar dark tint around it as it did an uppercut and collided with the rabbit, making it fly into the air and out of sight. The Murkrow was busy tormenting the poor Psychic pokemon by pecking it repeatedly with its beak while letting out a couple of Night Shades from its wings to harm it. Psyduck just ran around in circles clinging to its aching head as the pokemon kept it up before Bryce sighed and just threw a pokeball at the black pokemon. With a "Clunk" the ball hit its target and swallowed the Murkrow in its depths. It fell to the green forest floor and wiggled once, twice, then went out as the bird was caught. Psyduck let out a sigh of relief before falling to the ground and going to sleep.

* * *

"You caught a Psyduck!"

"Shut up."

"You caught a Psyduck!"

"Shut up!"

"You caught a Psyduck!"

"SHUT UP!"

Bryce was dancing around exactly the way Stormie had been doing it, obviously to irritate her. Haunter let out a chuckle before Stormie shot him a look and he looked away trying to look innocent while whistling a tune and twiddling his thumbs.

"What? If you can't take it, don't dish it out." He said simply with a shrug. With a sigh, she realized he was right and noticed the darkness around them. They'd been battling the whole way through the forest against two or three Wurmples, the same Buneary as before (Obvious due to the welt where Lash's Knock Off had hit it.), and an unsuspecting Silcoon who had simply been in the mischievious Haunter's way.

"We should rest here for the night, it should be a while before we get to the city." Stormie stated. Bryce shrugged and they found a large tree to sit under. They took out a couple of sleeping bags while Stormie handed Bryce her Psyduck's pokeball.

"Why not just release it?" He asked as he scanned the Psyduck and Murkrow's pokeball.

"I'm not giving up on it." She said before muttering under her breath, "No matter how useless it is."

"Got it," Bryce chimed. "Looks like your Psyduck's a male and it knows Scratch, Water Sport, Disable, Tail Whip, Water Gun, and Confusion. My Murkrow's female and it knows Peck, Astonish, Pursuit, Haze, Wing Attack, and Night Shade."

"So what are you going to name it?" Stormie asked as she took back the Psyduck.

"I don't know. What's wrong with Murkrow?"

"It's boring."

"Well you didn't nickname Combusken or Haunter."

"They didn't want one."

"Well I guess I can call it Bad Luck, seeing as how it prompted your pokeball to catch a Psyduck." He said with a snort.

Stormie rolled her eyes before suggesting, "How about Omen?"


	18. Abra Kadabra: Psyduck Gains A Nickname

**Dexter (Bold letters)**

**_Dextette (Bold and Italics)

* * *

_**

Ch. 18: Abra Kadabra: Psyduck Gains A Nickname

Stormie stomped her foot in frustration as the Psyduck sat in front of the tree with a confused look on his face, its claws holding its aching head.

"C'mon Psyduck! I know you know it! Now Water Pulse!"

To her surprise, the Psyduck stood up and opened its mouth. After a breath moment of suspense, it yawned, tilted its head to the side and uttered yet another confused, 'Psy?' Stormie smacked her forehead with the palm of her hand leaving a faint pink mark while Bryce watched on with amusement, his newly obtained Murkrow perched on his shoulder.

"Maybe you can call him Dopey?"

'Murkrow!'

Bryce figured he needed to get on Omen's good side if he planned to use her as a guide out of the dense forest. He had found the one thing they held in common was teasing the new Psyduck, after that, bonding with the Murkrow was easy. Stormie frowned and turned around pointing at the both of them.

"You two aren't helping!"

They were still in Eterna Forest, under the tree in which they slept and Stormie was attempting to use it as target practice for the Psyduck to reveal its attacks. But at this point, she wondered if Bryce had been lying when he told her it knew any attacks because every time she ordered an attack, she always got the same response.

'Psy?'

Bryce shrugged and stroked Omen on the head behind her hat feathers. "Just get rid of him, simple as that."

Stormie sighed and crouched down to pick up the round pokemon, keeping it close to her chest where it instinctively nuzzled her in the chest and went to sleep in less than five seconds.

"No, I caught him, he's my responsibility. I can't just abandon him."

As he started snoring, he put him down next to the slumbering Abra and raised an eyebrow.

"But I wonder how its managed to survive on its own for so long when he's so... So..."

"Useless?"

"Well I wouldn't use that word, but yeah pretty much."

"I wouldn't dwell on it. We should probably go, we've been training all morning."

Stormie nodded and pulled out a single pokeball, returning Psyduck and scooped up Psy. She then walked under the branches and looked up into the dense and complicated series of branches and leaves before calling out,

"Haunter! Time to wake up!"

Haunter floated down almost immediately at his trainer's call, but the three spectators couldn't help but notice that something was off. Something was squirming around inside of Haunter's mouth. Stormie sighed and tried to pry Haunter's mouth open. When this didn't work she took a step back and motioned with her finger.

"C'mon Haunter, let it go."

Haunter shook his head and grinned despite of himself.

"Open."

Once again he shook his head before Stormie smacked him in the back of the head. Surprised, the ghost spat out a wet and very much terrified Wurmple that inched away as fast as it could. Horrified, Bryce asked, "Haunter eats other pokemon?"

"Pssh, no. It's just a lame joke."

Noticing Omen staring at the worm while licking its beak, Bryce smacked her in the back of the head to mirror Stormie and said,

"Don't even think about it."

Omen instantly shot him a look that clearly read, "I don't know you that well."

Reminded of her wickedly sharp curved beak, he flinched. "S-Sorry Omen. You mind helping us out here?"

Omen looked at him for a moment before flapping her wings and taking off in front of Bryce and Stormie, just slowly enough for them to follow. Shouldering their packs, they followed after the Murkrow into the woods.

"Are you sure this is right?"

Both Stormie and Bryce stared with disbelief at the area Omen had led them. In front of them were twisted roots that barred their way into an area that was so dark, it could have been midnight. The trees were dead, there was tall brown grass that was as tall as their knees, and a dense haze hung around the trees like a thief in the night. Naturally, Haunter was delighted.

'Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Haunter!' He cried in delight as he floated in and out between the trees, vanishing every once and a while, but whether this was because of the haze or the ghost's abilities was unknown. Omen was perched in the nearest tree next to the roots, cleaning a raised wing with her crooked beak. Stormie looked nervously to the side where the sun was shining brighter than it was in the other areas of the forest and tapped Bryce on the shoulder.

"Are you sure this is right?" She repeated.

Bryce brushed the hand off a bit distracted before mumbling, "Yeah. Omen lives around here, she must know what she's doing."

Stormie could only shake her hand and started muttering her good luck prayer again while Bryce enlarged a pokeball off his belt and hurled it in front of him.

"Grotle, Razor Leaf on the roots!"

With a loud thud that shook the ground under their feet, Grotle appeared in front of the two trainers. With a couple of rustles from her bushes, razor sharp leaves flew from her back and shredded the roots into pieces. Bryce lifted the pokeball and recalled the tortoise before stepping through the gap. As he entered the haze, he felt a pair of hands grip his shoulder and a warm body against his back. His face growing hot and turning beet red, he turned around to find Stormie hanging onto him as if her very life depended on him with an Abra tail hanging out of her backpack.

"I want to remind you," She started. "That Murkrows are called bad luck for a reason. It may be Omen's instinct that brought her here."

Bryce swallowed, she might have been right but it was too late to go back on his word now if he wanted to preserve his macho image.

"Relax, I'm sure it's nothing."

With these words, he lead her deeper into the haze, following the Murkrow who was hopping branch from branch into the darkness and away from the light.

'Murkrow!'

Omen was perched on the rooftop of an old house. The windows were broken and dusty while the wooden planks that formed the house were rotting and falling out of the foundation of the old building. On the ground in front of Bryce's feet was a stone path that was missing a few stones and had a fallen rusted bronze plaque that read, "Old Chateau" Bryce blinked for a moment before kicking the plaque out of the way. He yelped when he felt Stormie's fingers grip to his shoulders even tighter.

"C'mon, this place is obviously fake. I mean it couldn't have been the 'Old Chateau' when this place was built."

Even with these words, the preteen refused to let go of his shoulders, keeping him firmly in place. Grunting he took one step after another until he finally reached the front door. Reluctantly, he pried Stormie's hands from his shoulders and rapped on the door with a firm hand. A hollow knock boomed and echoed throughout the house and with a long drawn out creak, the door opened by itself. Surprised that he didn't feel the familiar pain in his shoulders caused by her clinging fingers, Bryce turned around to find her being comforted by none other than Haunter. She clung to him like a stuffed animal while the phantom grinned at the boy.

'Krow!'

A rush of wind blew over Bryce's head and it took him a moment before he realized that it was only Omen gliding in with a single flap of her wings. Without a second glance at their surroundings, she swooped in up the stairs and disappeared around a corner. With a few hesitant steps as if to make sure the floorboards were steady, Bryce walked in and started up the steps before hearing a sort of groan from behind him. Turning around he saw Stormie pointing with a shaky finger at the wall, Bryce turned to look in her finger's direction.

"It's a wall." Bryce stated plainly, walking up to it and knocking on it as though testing to see if something was living in it.

"B-B-But!"

"Calm down Stormie, there's nothing wrong with this house."

With those words spoken, he continued up the stairs and followed the corridor Omen flew down. He heard the chink of metal against metal and followed the sound down the corridors, each one of the rooms looked like old hotel rooms complete with a yellowing mattress and a bookcase. Finally, in the second to last room, Bryce found Omen with a cloth bag by her side on a shelf in a bookcase. This room was different whereas it had a tv that lit the room with static. On her right was the bag, and on her left was a pile of shiny objects. Pokes, earrings, bangles, bracelets, and even a doorknob. Each one she placed one by one into the cloth sack.

"Omen, what are you doing?" Bryce asked with a raised eyebrow when he suddenly heard a chime along with a new feminine voice.

**_Hello, my name is Dextette, the counterpart to Dexter. My primary function is to provide additional information whenever you should need it in your pokemon journey._**

Sliding the red pokedex out of his pocket, he blinked and stared at the device before shrugging. "Alright then Dextette, can you explain what Omen's doing?"

Another chime emitted from the pokedex before Murkrow's screen came up with all of its stats.

**_Murkrow shows strong interest in anything that sparkles or glitters. It hides any shiny object it finds in a secret location and will even try to steal rings from women. Once a Murkrow has collected its treasures, it will guard it with its life, even going so far as to turn it into its nest._**

Bryce groaned when he realized what this meant, Omen wasn't trying to lead them out of the woods, all she cared about at the moment was collecting her hoard. He put down his pokedex on top of the flickering television and started to help the Murkrow collect its items.

While all of this went on, Stormie stood quietly in the background, clinging to Haunter for nothing. She knew she had seen something, large red eyes staring at them through a wall, not unlike Haunter. The only problem was, Haunter was right there with her. Every muscle in her body told her to go out the door, but he didn't want to leave Bryce (AKA her back-up) behind. She watched silently as Bryce put the pokedex on the television, her eyes flickering around the room for any sign of the red eyes when her eyes happened to waver across the television screen.

"Bryce..." she mumbled, unsure of what she had seen, but there was no mistaken it. Between every flicker of the static on the TV screen, there was a red face with electric blue eyes. After the face had appeared five times, the TV shut off and a spark subtly leapt from it onto Bryce's pokedex.

**Ro...RoRoRoRo...**

The pokedex flickered for a moment with the same face before the screen disappeared and a pixilated version of the pokemon's face she'd seen earlier appeared, grinning mischievously at Stormie before disappearing and replacing it with a different pokemon.

**Gengar, the Shadow Pokemon and the evolved form of Haunter. A Gengar is close by if you feel a sudden chill, it may be trying to lay a curse on you.**

Bryce blinked, he had just finished putting Omen's bag into his pack when he heard the information, he turned around to beam at Stormie.

"Did Haunter evolve?"

His cheerful expression quickly diminished when he saw how pale Stormie was. She was white as if she'd seen death itself and was pointing shakily in the direction of his pokedex. At first, Bryce thought she was pointing at the device, until he saw the red eyes on the wall. Taking action, Bryce quickly snatched up his pokedex and leaped back.

"B-B-But,"

"Ok ok you were right!" Bryce shouted as everything in the room started to rise into the air and spun around them in a phantasmal dance. The bookcase dropped all its books on the floor and the television's cord was yanked out of the wall.

"Go Omen! Night Shade!"

The Murkrow flapped its wings and flew over to her trainer before stalling in mid-air and landing on his shoulder. Turning to face the eyes, she opened her wings and let out twin beams of jagged black and violet energy. The beams hit both eyes and with a ghastly cry, the eyes disappeared and everything in the room fell to the ground with a resounding crash. Bryce started to dash out of the room and was pleased to find Stormie close on his heels. Being the owner of a ghost pokemon, she couldn't have been in shock for that long. She held a pokeball in her hand as if prepared for action while Haunter floated behind her.

"We're almost there!" Bryce called behind him. But as he neared the door, with a slam, it closed leaving Bryce to tug at the unyielding doorknob.

"It won't open!" He shouted over the noise that was starting to emerge from the house, ghostly wails and malevolent cackles of unseen spirits. The group turned around to find an army of ghost pokemon in front of them. A large group of Gastly, a couple of Haunters, all led by a Gengar who was frowning at the Murkrow with harm evidently written in its eyes as it cracked its knuckles.

"Go Combusken!" Stormie cried out, hurling the pokeball she was holding in front of them. But rather than the humanoid fowl emerging, a round figure came out. Its clawed hands holding both sides of its head as it let out a confused, 'Psy?'

"That's not Combusken!"

"I panicked! Psy, get Psyduck out of there!" Stormie cried as the ghosts all dove towards the duck. With a blue flash, the Abra appeared on top of the Psyduck with a rectangular pink object in its hands, but as soon as the pink object touched the duck, something happened. A pulse repelled every pokemon that was near Psyduck. Psy teleported into Stormie's arms with a surprised look on his face. The Psyduck was standing up, its claws off of the sides of its head, the pink plate was on its forehead and its eyes were glowing blue.

"What's going on?" Bryce asked as he yanked out his pokedex hoping Dextette would have some answers.

**_While lulling its enemies with its vacant look, Psyduck will use psychokinetic powers. However, it never remembers using its odd powers so it always has its head tilted in confusion._**

As these words were said, Psyduck put its claws together, forming an orb of concentrated water before pushing it towards the ghosts. The orb flew towards the water and hit the Gastly army with a boom that sent them all flying through the wall.

'Gengar! Gen Gengar!' The Gengar cried out as it pointed at its claws at the duck. Both Haunters flew towards Psyduck, one coming from the left, and the other from the right, each with a fist emitted in dark energy. Psyduck's eyes suddenly flashed, freezing the ghosts in their place before it pointed a single claw at them and made a flicking motion, sending them off in the distance. This last bit of psychic energy however seemed to be so powerful that the plate fell to the ground with a rattle. Blinking, Psyduck gripped its head, staring at a cowering Gengar before saying, 'Psy?'

This was all the poor Gengar could take before it flew away into the other room. Bryce and Murkrow stared at the yellow duck in amazement.

"I think I have the perfect nickname for him," Bryce said, and with a laugh he said, "Psych!"


	19. Gift From a Glameow

Disclaimer: I did not make up the Sinnoh Myths and they are legally the property of Pokemon.

A/N: Hey peoples! :D Anyways, some of these chapters may seem unimportant, but unbeknownst to you, they might have a teeny tiny bit in the story that will be really, **really**, **_really_**, **_really_**, **_REALLY_**, important in the long run, I cannot stress this enough (mostly to keep you looking out for past stuff xD I'm evil xP) And even if something reappears from previous chapters, this does not mean it's the really, really, etc etc, important part that I was talking about. Trust me on this, you'll know it when you see it.

PS: I will tell you that two of the chapters I posted were a little pointless, one is a little important but not so much. By this I mean they have no significant point in the story's climax. You'll probably figure it out in the end, but I felt obligated to tell you that these chapters are:

1. The King of Route 202

2. Bryce Vs. Stormie: The Buizel Showdown!

I guess you can call The Buizel Showdown important because Stormie gets Psyduck in it, but those two are basically irrelevant other than adding a little more action in the story. Also, I've decided not to extend chapters that have Gym leaders in it like I did with Roark. Meaning, the gym leaders won't have much of a personality unless they, or someone close to them, will be significant to the story. (Hmmm, someone important to them, hint hint hint :D) So the unimportant little gym leaders will only appear in one or two chapters because they'll be nothing more than Bryce's opponents like Logan. Now, on with the story! :D

* * *

Ch. 19: Gift From a Glameow: The Eterna Gym Challenge

"Psych?"

"What's wrong with Psych? I mean that's what he did right? We all thought that he was some dopey little Psyduck, but he psyched us out!"

They two trainers stood in the Eterna City Pokemon Center waiting on their pokemon while Stormie stood with her arms crossed, shaking her head in disbelief. Ever since Bryce had uttered the name, the Psyduck refused to answer to anything else and Stormie had no choice but to deem it his nickname.

With a sigh, Stormie replied, "Ok, whatever but I know I saw something go inside your pokedex!"

"Bryce rolled his eyes, "Yeah Stormie, I'm walking around with a possessed pokedex."

"But you are!"

"Whatever you say, but a possessed pokedex doesn't explain the pink plate Psy had."

Stormie pulled the object our of her jacket pocket and observed it, turning it in her hands. On one side was a series of designs while on the other side were the words, "When the universe was created, its shards became this plate." Over this phrase etched in the shape of Unown was the word, "Mind" She shrugged and replaced it in her pocket.

"I don't know, but Psy seems dependent on it, he looked as though he was afraid I'd take it from him."

As they pondered what the pink object was, Nurse Joy emerged with all of their pokemon walking with her. Psy had fallen asleep and was lying on Grotle's back along with a confused Psych and a perched Omen. Combusken walked on her left and Lash waddled on her right while Haunter floated overhead, giving the nurse a long drawn out lick on the face before chuckling and returning to his trainer's side. After apologizing to the dismayed nurse and returning half their pokemon(Stormie asked for Bryce to keep Grotle out for the sake of her tired arms and Bryce kept Omen out because they had barely had any time together), Bryce called his mother where he was hastily reminded to visit his grandmother and they set off.

"So where are we going?" Stormie inquired, "The Eterna Gym?"

Bryce shook his head. "We should go visit my grandmother or my mom will have a Miltank. It won't take too long."

'Haunt...' Came a bored reply before Haunter floated over the Pokemon Center rooftop and sunk into the ceiling. Bryce cocked an eyebrow but Stormie just waved it off.

"He'll meet up with us later."

* * *

_Knock Knock Knock_

"Grandma Johanna?"

They were in front of a house that was in the outskirts of Eterna right in front of the Arceus statue. The house was a pleasant enough scene, a normal sized building with white paint and two windows in the front with a brown front door. A white picket fence surrounded the premises with a swing hanging from a single tree that she remembered the boy used to play on.

At the moment, she was in her favorite perch, the tree overlooking the swing. Her tail hung back and forth as she watched Bryce ring the door for her partner with no avail. She had no idea who the other human was or for that matter, who the three strange pokemon following them were, but she didn't really care at the moment. (Though she had to admit, the Flying type looked puuuur-fect.)

With her coiled tail swinging back and forth, she checked to make sure her pokepal didn't mess with her position. Satisfied, she noticed her and her child were fast asleep on the side of the house. Bryce finally gave up ringing after some persuasion from the female and walked over to the swing.

He picked a note that was attached to the swing, reading it out loud for the benefit of the second human. She knew these words from heart thanks to her partner Johanna, because for the life of her, she could never figure out human glyph, the same glyph that she held in her fangs at the moment.

_Dear Bryce,_

_I'm sorry I couldn't be there with you, but the Chingling I had told you about was ready to go back to the wild._

_As you know, it is unwise to keep a young wild pokemon in captivity unless you plan to keep it, lest it will be weaned from its natural habitat._

_I heard about your journey and I am so sorry to hear about your friend Brandon, he always was such a rebellious young man._

_I have left something with Glameow for you. I am almost absolutely certain that it will help you with your journey._

_Love, _

_Grandma Johanna_

After he uttered those words, Bryce uttered those fatal last words she had been waiting for,

"Where's Glameow?"

* * *

'Myah!'

Came the cry from over head as furry paws landed on Bryce's head. With a startled cry, Bryce fell off the swing face first while the feline sat triumphant on its head. In the confusion, Bryce's backpack came off and Omen flew forward to retrieve it, carrying the pack to the tallest branch on the tree where her possessions would be safe. Psy immediately teleported towards Stormie's backpack, but didn't concentrate out of fear of attack and brought Grotle with him. The tortoise and the psychic pokemon both landed on her backpack, tearing the straps off her shoulders and onto the ground. However, Stormie didn't even seem to notice. She was laughing so hard, tears were rolling out of her eyes before she fell on her rear, landing on Grotle's sturdy shell.

* * *

Glameow lay purring in Bryce's lap while he stroke her back gently from her ears to her curly tail. Grotle lounged in the shade while Stormie sat on her hard shell as a makeshift bench as she attempted to calm the frightened Psy down. Omen now perched in the lowest branch in the tree, keeping a close eye on the feline and the marsupial lying against the tree trunk. Bryce pulled out his pokedex and scanned his two childhood friends just to kill time.

"I don't want to hear it Stormie," Bryce said when he noticed her starting to open her mouth at the prospect that the pokedex was possessed. After knocking the pokedex lightly against the swing, the pokedex chimed.

**Glameow, the Catty Pokemon. It claws when it's displeased and purrs when affectionate. It's fickleness is very popular among some.**

**Kangaskhan, the Parent Pokemon. The infant rarely ventures out of its mother's protective pouch until it is 3 years old. It lets the baby play only when it feels safe.**

"So you're three huh?" Bryce asked the baby Kangaskhan that was on top of his head nibbling his beret. With a flick of her tail, Glameow regained Bryce's attention and showed the three papers that were in her mouth.

"What's this?"

"Maybe it's the something your grandmother was talking about." Stormie offered while she held the struggling psychic pokemon. Bryce nodded and retrieved the papers. Satisfied, Glameow leaped from his lap, stretched, and strolled around to the backyard. With the newfound space in his lap, Bryce took the opportunity to put the infant in his lap where it'd be more comfortable. Baby Kangaskhan quickly found a new way to occupy its time and started to chew on the corner of one of the pages before Bryce started to read.

**Sinnoh Myths Vol. 1**

_Long ago, when Sinnoh had just been  
made, Pokémon and humans led  
separate lives.  
That is not to say they did not help  
each other. No, indeed they did.  
They supplied each other with goods,  
and supported each other.  
A Pokémon proposed to the others  
to always be ready to help humans.  
It asked that Pokémon be ready to  
appear before humans always.  
Thus, to this day, Pokémon appear  
to us if we venture into tall grass. _

"What the-?" Bryce asked curiously. What did this have to do with his journey to find Brandon? He moved on to the next page.

_A young man, callow and foolish in  
innocence, came to own a sword.  
With it, he smote Pokémon, which gave  
sustenance, with carefree abandon.  
Those not taken as food, he  
discarded, with no afterthought.  
The following year, no Pokémon  
appeared. Larders grew bare.  
The young man, seeking the missing  
Pokémon, journeyed afar.  
Long did he search. And far and wide,  
too, until one he did find.  
Asked he, "Why do you hide?"  
To which the Pokémon replied...  
"If you bear your sword to bring  
harm upon us, with claws and  
fangs, we will exact a toll.  
"From your kind we will take our  
toll, for it must be done.  
"Done it must be to guard ourselves  
and for it, I apologize."  
To the skies, the young man shouted  
his dismay.  
"In having found the sword, I have  
lost so much.  
"Gorged with power, I grew blind  
to Pokémon being alive.  
"I will never fall savage again.  
This sword I denounce and forsake.  
"I plead for forgiveness,  
for I was but a fool."  
So saying, the young man hurled the  
sword to the ground, snapping it.  
Seeing this, the Pokémon disappeared  
to a place beyond seeing..._

Dismayed, Bryce moved on to the last page.

_In the beginning, there was only  
a churning turmoil of chaos.  
At the heart of chaos, where all  
things became one, appeared an Egg.  
Having tumbled from the vortex, the  
Egg gave rise to the Original One.  
From itself, two beings the Original  
One did make. Time started to spin.  
Space began to expand.  
From itself again, three living things  
the Original One did make.  
The two beings wished, and from them,  
matter came to be.  
The three living things wished, and  
from them, spirit came to be.  
The world created, the Original One  
took to unyielding sleep..._

"Ah Man!" He cried, throwing down the papers much to the displeasure of the baby Kangaskhan who started to wail at its lost toy. After receiving a look from the mother, he quickly picked them up so the infant could occupy it's time again.

"What's wrong?" Stormie asked. Psy had finally gone to sleep and she was gently rocking him in her arms.

"These don't have anything to do with my journey! They're just stories Grandma used to tell me when I was a kid. They're all myths that explain different reasons of how Sinnoh came to be, but I doubt any of them are true. I mean, what kind of pokemon would be strong enough to be in a myth, yet cower from a human with a sword?"

Stormie put a hand on his shoulder, a little surprised he didn't blush.

"You're being too logical about this, they're called myths for a reason, they're not supposed to be true. Besides why are you so upset that this won't help you with your gym challenges? It seems to me that you're capable of doing it on your own."

With a sigh, Bryce muttered, "That's not my journey. I'm just hoping the gyms will help me get stronger so I can work my way up to my _real_ goal."

And with that, Bryce told Stormie of his journey. Starting with the death of his father, he worked his way up to when he first got Turtwig(To which Grotle slightly shifted, telling Bryce that he had another listener). When he reached the part where Brandon was taken by Team Galactic, he had to stop and explain to Stormie who the group was. When he finally reached the part where he battled his friend, Stormie nodded.

"That sounds like Hypnosis to me Bryce. You sure there wasn't a Psychic pokemon around? Or a Ghost?"

"Yeah, at least, I didn't see one. Wait, how would you know about Hypnosis?"

"Haunter," She stated simply, "But that's beside the point. I'm going to help you."

Bryce blinked before scooping up baby Kangaskhan, standing up and unintentionally shouting, "What?"

"Relax. What Team Galactic has done is unforgiveable, and when I became your partner, I did so knowing that I'd have to help you through your hardships, and though this is a little more than I expected, I'm helping."

"But it's too dangerous!"

"And it's not too dangerous for you? I am farther than you in my quest for our goals. I need five ribbons, and you need eight badges, so who's closer?"

"You, but-"

"I don't want to hear it, I'm coming."

She crossed her arms firmly, almost crushing poor Psy. When Bryce noticed her steely determination, he sat down with a low sigh.

"Alright, you can come."

Satisfied, Stormie nodded. "Glad you see things my way, but first things first, we need to get you to the Eterna Gym."

* * *

When Stormie and Bryce passed the Pokemon Center, Haunter rejoined them. Upon first reaching the gym, there were two entrances, one that read, "Challengers Only," and the other read, "Audience." After a bid of good luck from Stormie and a lick on the face from Haunter, Bryce took a deep breath and walked into the Challengers Entrance. When he walked through the entrance, he was surprised to find that the whole stadium had been designed to look like a small forest. The trees were so packed together, Bryce could barely find his way through.

"Hello?" He called out, looking around. He was surprised to find no one there so he wandered his way through the trees, calling out everywhere he went.

"Bryce!" Came a cry above him. Startled, he looked up to find a platform overhead where Haunter, Stormie, and Psy were all looking down on him. Stormie had one arm under Psy while the other was cupped over her mouth to amplify her voice. She then pointed behind him.

"Look!"

Bryce quickly turned around only to find a blur leap away from his vision. The figure bounded from tree to tree until finally satisfied that it confused Bryce, leapt into the clearing in front of him. She was a tall woman who had to be in her late 20's. She had short red hair with black highlights in them and a green poncho draped over her shoulders, just above her belly button. Her orange khaki shorts seemed ripped at the knees and wore green boots. With her index finger, she pointed at Bryce and shouted,

"Challenger, welcome to the Eterna City Gym! You are in the presence of the Grass Type Gym Leader, Gardenia! State your name challenger!"

'Wow, she's enthusiastic,' Bryce thought. "My name is Bryce Wright."

"Welcome to Eterna Bryce. Now if you're ready, we can start our battle."

"I'm ready." Bryce stated simply.

Gardenia beamed at him, and with her thumb and finger shaped like a V, she stuck it in her mouth and whistled. A small trap door opened from the ground and a small droid came whirring through the air by a propeller on its head. It floated in between the two trainers in a position so Bryce could see the screen on it, and in a monotonous voice, boomed so everyone in the stadium could hear.

"The battle between challenger Bryce Wright from Twinleaf Town and Gardenia from Eterna City will now commence! This will be a three-on-three single battle with the challenger being the only one allowed to substitute his pokemon! May the respective trainers release their pokemon?"

Gardenia went first, yanking a pokeball from the inside of her poncho and hurled it in front of her, "Cherubi, it's go time!"

A small round pokemon emerged from the white light. It was a slight pink color with a round bulb growing off its stem that slightly resembled a miniature version of it.

**Cherubi, the Cherry Pokemon. The small ball holds the nutrients needed for evolution, apparently it's very sweet and tasty.**

Bryce couldn't help but notice the ball on Gardenia's Cherubi was fairly large. Whereas the one in the pokedexwas about a fourth of the Cherubi's size, Gardenia's was almost big enough to make a second Cherubi. But Bryce just assumed that a gym leader's pokemon was just naturally bigger. He plucked off the pokeball from his belt and hurled it in front of the Cherubi.

"Lets do this Omen!"

The small Murkrow appeared in front of the Cherubi, cocking its neck at an angle so it could stare down at the Cherubi. The droid's screen turned green, satisfied that both pokemon were out, and boomed, "Let the battle commence!"

"Omen, Astonish!"

'MURKROW!' Omen suddenly cried out, spreading its wings to their full length while pointing her beak at the Cherubi's head, her eyes glinting as she stared fiercely at the Cherubi. 'Cheruuuuu...' whimpered the small grass type as it cowered underneath the fierce flying type.

"Wing Attack, then Peck!"

Omen's wings suddenly glowed bright white as it hit the Cherubi with one wing, sending it flying into the air. Omen then flapped after it, flying just over its head before with a hard jab, it sent the poor Cherry pokemon crashing into the ground. The Murkrow hovered in the air for a moment, just watching the area where it sent its opponent flying.

"Is that it?" Bryce asked skeptically.

"Not even close," Gardenia grinned, "Now Cherubi, Growth!"

Cherubi winced as it stood up, bruises covered its body before it shook itself. Afterwards, it stood in place humming, 'Cheeeeer,' as it did this, its body started to grow white as green streams of energy came from the ground, making the bud on Cherubi's stem grow a little bit more, and a little bit more before the bud was as big as the Cherubi itself.

"Hmmph, what's that supposed to do?" Bryce asked smugly.

"Bryce! Stop her!" Stormie cried from overhead, but before Bryce could utter another command to the Flying type, Gardenia shouted out,

"It's time! Absorb it!"

Humming once more, the Cherubi was bathed in a green light as it started to absorb all the nutrients in its bud. As it did so, the bud shriveled smaller, and smaller, and smaller, until it was nothing. When the bud disappeared, the Cherubi's color changed from a green light, to a white light as its body started to grow. It grew a little taller as the stem disappeared and its round shape changed in favor of a longer thinner body. When the light was gone, so was Cherubi, and a tall purple bud stood in its place with a thick pink stem that was bent over the top of the bud.

**Cherrim, the Blossom Pokemon. It blooms during the time of strong sunlight. It folds back into a bud when the sun wanes.**

"Now Sunny Day!"

The stem on the top of Cherrim rose straight up and shot a beam into the hole that served as a skylight. When it finished, the sun suddenly grew brighter, bathing the stadium in a rich white light and even as Bryce watched, the Cherrim started to change yet again. The grass type spun in a circle, the petals that made the bud suddenly rising like a plant in bloom. The purple bud was gone in favor of a cheerful yellow pokemon with pink petals surrounding its head.

"Quick Omen! Night Shade!"

Omen stalled in mid-air as it spread its wings, the familiar black and violet beams shooting out towards the flower.

"Petal Dance, Cherrim!" Gardenia cried in response.

Humming cheerfully, the pink pokemon danced around the beams. As it did so, fragments of its petal detached from its body, rising into the air towards the Murkrow in a whirlwind of pink flowers.

"Spiral than Wing Attack!" Omen immediately flapped twice, gaining a little more altitude before diving with its wings spread out, spinning rapidly in the air. The wind caused by the Murkrow's spread wings blew the surrounding petals away as it dived as fast as it could towards the flower.

"Step back Cherrim." Gardenia said simply as the Cherrim did a small hop backwards. Suddenly realizing the danger Omen was in, Bryce cried,

"Night Shade!"

The twin Night Shades shot out once more, hitting the ground long before Omen reached it, slowing her descent until she could flap her wings and hover off the ground once more. With a sigh of relief, Bryce thought about what a problem that could have turned out to be.

"Very impressive Bryce," Gardenia said with an approving smile, "But you're going to have to do better than that to beat me! Magical Leaf!"

Cherrim danced around in a circle once more, its petals blowing off towards Omen from the incredible speed.

"Dodge it Omen!"

Omen immediately took off, she recognized this attack from a Cherubi she'd tried to take honey from in the forest. She flew top speed through the branches and trees of the improvised forest as the leaves followed its every move, but in the end, it was no use. As the Murkrow began to wear down, the even faster leaves caught up and hit her square in the back, knocking her back into the clearing. She fell through the air but opened her wings just in time to catch the wind, allowing her to glide into the air before flapping her wings again, but just when she recovered, Gardenia cried out once more,

"Magical Leaf with Leech Seed Cherrim!"

Cherrim looked up at the sunny sky, her eyes closed in delight as she spat out five small seeds while spinning around, each one landing on the tip of one of her petals. She faced Omen again, still spinning albeit faster so the leaves came flying off her body again.

"Fly as high as you can Murkrow!"

Murkrow aimed towards the skylight, flapping as hard as she can in a desperate attempt to avoid leaves. It was a race to see which would fail first as both the Murkrow and Magical Leech Seed climbed higher and higher. As Omen neared the hole, she started to see flashes of light. She was unused to flying in such bright light, hence why she usually only flew at night. She started to slow down until her wings failed her and she fell through the air for the third time. This gave the Magical Leech Seed the advantage it needed, it hit the Murkrow on her way down, planting seeds all around her body. Even as she fell, the seeds opened allowing small vines to wrap around her head feathers, her wings, her beak, and her legs. However, Omen wasn't entirely unlucky, she soon found the vines did not tie her wings to her body and she opened her wings yet again to glide to the ground. As she neared the Cherrim, she heard, "Peck!"

'Mur Mur Mur Mur Murkrow!' She cackled tauntingly as if laughing at the fact the attack didn't work. As she dove towards Cherrim, her beak shining in the sunlight as it aimed for it, she was however surprised at one thing, why didn't the Cherrim move? Suddenly, the vines constricted around her body and wings, zapping the Murkrow. She felt her energy leave her and she fell with a thud to the ground.

"How is she so powerful? Even with evolution, that Cherrim shouldn't be juiced up with so much power."

"Bryce! Look at Cherrim!"

Following Stormie's advice, Bryce looked at Cherrim. The blossom was just sitting in the sun, singing softly as the sunlight bathed her in a white light. It wasthe same light that it had when it was evolving, but it was slightly dimmer.

"That's it! It's using the sun to gain more power! That's why she used it as soon as it evolved!"

With a fiery determination evident in his eyes, he shouted, "Omen, Haze!"

Omen winced, slowly lifting itself up before opening its wings. A black mist was suddenly summoned from the skylight, filling the stadium with its fog, blocking out the sun.

"Oh no!" Gardenia cried as the Cherrim's flowers started to fold downwards back into its bud form. Bryce then pulled off Omen's pokeball and aimed it at Murkrow, recalling it into its pokeball to rid it of the Leech Seed and to give it some rest.

"Now things should be a little more interesting." He said with a grin.


	20. The Mysterious Mini Medi

AN: Gardenia refers to Bryce as a certain term. To this I say, most of my characters will most likely be this way because I think this way. So if it makes them smarter than they're supposed to be at that age, then so be it. I guess all my story characters will be geniuses :P

PS: Let me tell you, I really struggled with this chapter (Which is why it took so long) so it might suck because I'm a little rusty.

* * *

Ch. 20: The Mysterious Mini-Medi

Black haze filled the stadium, its dark depths leaving only a glimmer of sunlight to shine through the man-made forest. The Cherrim had returned to its bud form so it sat motionless where it stood when the sun's light no longer energized it. Bryce returned Omen's pokeball onto his belt and plucked off the next.

"Grotle, let's do this!"

In a white flash, the Grotle appeared half-obscured in the Haze. She snorted and tossed her head, eyeing the motionless bud. At the sight of the tortoise, Gardenia shifted in the shadows of the Haze. Bryce squinted his eyes to get a better look at her and found a completely different Gardenia than before. She looked as though she'd been lovestruck.

"OH MY GOD! THAT GROTLE IS SO CUTE!"

She quickly took off her poncho, exposing numerous pokeballs and started plucking them off one by one.

"I'll trade you my Jumpluff for it! No, no wait! My Bellossom! My Victreebel? How about my Vileplume?"

Bryce blinked for a minute, opening his mouth between each offer before getting cut off before he clenched his ears in frustration and roared,

"ARE WE GOING TO BATTLE OR NOT?"

Gardenia stopped in her tracks and threw her poncho back on. With a look of disgust on her face she nodded.

"That's a little rude, you didn't have to scream y'know. It was just a suggestion."

Bryce rolled his eyes before turning back to his pokemon, "Alright Grotle, Omen weakened it so now's your chance! Bite!"

Grotle lumbered towards the motionless pokemon with her hooked mouth open.

"C'mon Cherrim, Magical Leaf!"

The ends of Cherrim's petals fell off, their color changing to shifting rainbow hues before they went flying towards Grotle. However, all Grotle did was lowered her head so the leaves flew towards her back, glancing off her hard shell. She kept going towards Cherrim before biting the bud in its side, lifting the helpless pokemon in her mouth.

"Now toss it up and use Withdraw!"

With a toss of her head, the tortoise tossed Cherrim over her head. Grotle then tucked her legs under her body and held her head straight out so the top of her newly armored head was protected. The purple bud fell through the air before slamming into Grotle's shell. With a simple shrug of her shoulders, the grass type relieved herself of the fainted pokemon. The droid whirred down from its secure hiding place and hovered over Cherrim with a red screen.

"Cherrim is unable to battle. Grotle wins! The score is now 2-3."

Recalling her pokemon, Gardenia grinned.

"Looks like I have a strategist on my hands."

Bryce shrugged, he never referred to himself as a strategist but the word did define his battling technique. Practice battles with his dad when he was a kid didn't hurt either. Gardenia pulled off another pokeball and hurled it in front of Grotle.

"Go Turtwig!"

A familiar small turtle appeared before Grotle. This amused her a little bit, having to battler her pre-evolution.

"A Turtwig? Don't you think we'd have the advantage?" Bryce asked.

Gardenia's enthusiastic grin grew wider at his words. "Do you? In that case, you make the first move."

"If you insist, Grotle, Tackle!"

Grotle stumbled forward, rushing towards the smaller turtle as fast as her heavy body would allow.

"Jump for it Turtwig!"

When Grotle neared her smaller opponent, Turtwig waited a moment before jumping up onto Grotle's back. As the larger tortoise threw her full body weight at where Turtwig once was, she fell to the ground, her legs sprawled out. Turtwig left her back with a graceful leap before placing a playful nip on her tail. Bryce grinded his teeth before regaining his composure.

"That's ok Grotle! Try it again!"

Grotle grunted, slowly standing up after falling to her knees twice from her heavy shell. After her third attempt, she finally got to her feet and charged towards Turtwig. As the heavy tortoise came charging towards it once more, the Turtwig simply grinned and stepped aside as the Grotle came flying towards it, falling once more.

"I may have spoke to soon about you being a strategist." Gardenia said with a shrug.

Bryce frowned and asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, evolution's not an advantage. Sure they're going to get more power behind their attacks, but notice that my Turtwig has way more speed than your Grotle was. Until you learn how to use your Grotle's strengths, I suggest you recall it."

Bryce sighed before realizing that she was right and recalled Grotle back into her pokeball. He hastily pulled off the third pokeball in his arsenal.

"I guess that's something to work on. Go Lash!"

The aggressive Lickitung appeared before him. His tongue withdrawn, he used his white thumb to lower his sunglasses. Whether this was to see better or look cool, Bryce couldn't say. By now the Haze had faded away and the sun bathed the arena in its gentle white light so Lash could eye down his opponent before grinning mischievously to himself. Bryce reached forward so he could get the sunglasses but the cocky Lickitung smacked his hand away. Rubbing the tender area on his wrist, Bryce could only say one thing,

"I'm not buying another pair if you break those..."

Gardenia giggled to herself behind her hand.

"A Lickitung? I haven't seen one of those in this arena before. You sure it can handle it?"

At this remark, Lash started to fume. Clenching his fists to his sides and furrowing his brow, Bryce could almost see the steam coming out of his non-existent ears.

"Now you've done it." He muttered as Lash brought his tongue into play, shooting out his slimy appendage at Turtwig. Too surprised to respond, it simply gasped before the sticky weapon wrapped itself around its body, squeezing before hurling it in another direction. In the blink of an eye, Lash whipped his tongue around in the other direction, meeting the Turtwig in mid-air and knocking her towards the Lickitung's feet. With the grass-type in his mercy, Lash lifted a foot and slammed it into its shell, sending a tremor throughout the small pokemon's body until a crack appeared in it while Turtwig's eyes clenched tight in pain.

"Well that's new." Bryce muttered before noticing his pokedex was vibrating. On the screen was picture of a giraffe with a vicious grinning black face for a tail.

"C'mon... Stupid thing." He said as he tapped the device against his leg. The screen flickered for a moment before going to another screen with Lickitung on the screen. Blinking on the screen in red were the words, **New Move: Stomp.**

"Once again you surprise me Bryce." Gardenia said with a laugh. "Looks like I'm going to have to stop underestimating you. Turtwig!"

The small turtle who was once at Lash's mercy suddenly looked up, its eyes snapping open before it suddenly dashed out from under Lash's foot causing the Lickitung to stumble forward in surprise as he lost his footing. Turtwig dashed around him before dashing around him, lowering his head before ramming him in the back. Finally losing his diminished balance, Lash fell flat on his tongue.

"You're going to let a Turtwig do that to you Lash?" Bryce called out. Getting the effect he sought for, Lash snorted and lept to his feet, glowering at the turtle. "Now Knock Off!"

Not missing a beat, Lash's sinister attack caused his tongue to whip out, enveloped in a dark aura as it went after Turtwig who dashed to the right, narrowly dodging it. "Tackle Turtwig!" Gardenia cried out as Turtwig swiveled around and dashed towards Lash's vast stomach. "Defense Curl then Lick!"

Lash retracted his tongue and inhaled a massive amount of air, visibly inflating his stomach to twice its size. As Turtwig rammed into it, it was immediately reflected with an audible, "Boing!" As the Turtwig went sliding across the ground, Lash whipped his tongue out once more and hit the Turtwig right across its forehead.

"Bite Turtwig!"

Before Lash could get a chance to retract his weapon, Turtwig used its hooked mouth to bite it hard, tugging it in the process as if it was nothing more than rope in a game of tug-of-war. As Lash was yanked towards his fierce competitor, he heard a voice cry, "Leech Seed!"

Turtwig let go of the tongue, sticking his own tongue out in disgust for good measure, and lowered his head so the twig was pointing directly at Lash. A bulge that seemed to have come from one of the leaves traveled up the wood and was launched form the twig's tip. The brown seed hit Lash directly in the tongue, the energy sapping roots wrapping itself around it. Twitching violently, Lash fell to his knees, furiously clawing at the seed in a desperate attempt to rid himself of it.

Gardenia grinned and pulled out Turtwig's pokeball from her poncho, returning the turtle into its pokeball as the droid whirred down from its hiding place.

"Turtwig has been forfeited, Lickitung wins! The score is now 1-3."

Bryce stared in disbelief as Gardenia shrugged.

"As the gym leader I'm not allowed to withdraw my pokemon."

"Then why did you do it?"

"You have to know your pokemon's limits Bryce, and getting stomped in the back by a fat Lickitung is bound to do some damage later on. Besides, I've done all I needed to do and you'll find this next pokemon will be more than enough."

With a grin, she pointed at Lash who was rolling on the grassy ground, twitching violently while swinging its tongue around.

"Oh right!" He said as he returned the Lickitung.

The gym leader laughed before pulling off her last pokeball from her poncho.

* * *

'Haunt?'

Haunter whirled around and put a claw to where his ear would be. He drifted closer and closer to the wall before phasing through to the outside.

"Haunter, where are you going?"

Stormie dashed down the stairs and out the gym doors. There, Haunter was floating next to the road, staring down the road as a dirt cloud started to rise. Something very fast was coming his way.

"Ponyta! Stop!" Came a small voice. No sooner was this call carried on the wind when a white horse with a flaming mane and a flared tail came flying by, its hooves picking up dust in the cracks of the stone, creating a large dust cloud behind it. Following after it came another Ponyta with someone on its back. A little girl with freckles and red hair tied in hasty pigtails. The dust speckled her hair with gray and yellow. One arm was wrapped around her steed's neck while she held the crook in her elbow in her other arm up to her mouth to keep herself from swallowing the sand and dust. When she saw Stormie and Haunter, she reigned the Ponyta in by pulling hard on the horse's neck. With a whinny it stopped in front of Stormie.

"E-excuse me. You're a pokemon trainer right? C-could you please?..." She asked panting hard before Stormie stopped her.

"It's fine, I got it."

With that, she took off down the street with Haunter in her wake, pokeball in hand she threw it behind the runaway Ponyta.

"Lets go Combusken!"

The young fowl appeared before her, looking around confused at the commotion before Stormie ran past her. Astounded, she dashed after her trainer, when she caught up Stormie pointed at the flaming equine.

"We need to stop that Ponyta! Focus Energy!"

Her powerful legs still running, Combusken squinted her eyes and held her claws together in fierce concentration, focusing hard with her other four senses to note anything that could stop the Ponyta. When she spotted her target, her eyes snapped open and she nodded to Stormie.

'Combusken!' As she pointed at the horse's legs.

"Good! Now Double Kick!"

With a mighty leap, already backed up with a running start, Combusken went flying into the air, landing in front of Ponyta. Before the bewildered Ponyta could respond to the sudden obstacle, Combusken dropped to a crouch and shot out a sharp kick in its left knee before swiveling around and kicking the pony in the other knee. Ponyta let out a loud whinny before it succumbed to its wounds and fell forward onto its front legs, her hind legs outstretched.

Stormie gasped, putting her hand up to her mouth in surprise. She didn't mean to hurt the poor pokemon. She ran towards where the injured pokemon lie in the road. Its eyes were wide open as if afraid its attacker would come back to finish the job. Her flanks were covered in sweat and bruises were on her front knees.

Combusken and the girl came running up, she seemed just as afraid as the incapacitated Ponyta. She put a hand on its side to calm it and looked up at Stormie.

"Is it alright?" Stormie asked, shooting a glare at Combusken.

"Yeah, I think she's more scared then anything. I'm more worried about what spooked her."

"What's responsible for scaring her so badly?"

"Mini Medi"

* * *

AN: Sorry I didn't intend to end the chapter so soon but I'm having writer's block which will probably mean an update on Stupidity of a Pokemon Trainer is coming up. Sorry! ^^


	21. The Leaf Ninja of the Eterna Gym

AN: The name's sort of a pun in case you guys didn't notice. (Naruto)

* * *

Ch. 21: The Eterna Gym Challenge Pt. 3: The Leaf Ninja of the Eterna Gym

With a "pop!" Gardenia's last pokeball was thrown out into the arena. But rather than a white light like Bryce had come to expect, black smoke poured from the pokeball in a downpour of murky exhaust that shaded the pokemon who was released from the pokeball. Bryce waved the smoke away from his nose and mouth before cupping a hand over his eyes so he could try and see the pokemon better. He managed to make out the pokemon's silhouette before the fumes from the ball capsule started to fade. A green pokemon standing on the tips of its small yellow toes was revealed. At first, Bryce was a little surprise that it had hair similar to a human's, but then he realized it was actually a formation of white rose petals. Her hands consisted of a bouquet of roses, a set of blue on its left, and red on the right with three small circles in each one. It held the bouquets in front of its face, making a sense of wonder radiate from Bryce. To him, it looked like a ninja that he'd seen in the movies. When it turned to face him, its leafy cape swirled to match its movements.

"My cute little Roserade just _loves_ to make an entrance!"

At this comment, the pokemon stumbled off the tips of its feet, a shade of dark green rising in its face at the embarrassing observation.

"Roserade?" Bryce asked as he took out his pokedex.

**Roserade, the Bouquet Pokemon and the final evolved form of Budew. It attracts opponents with its sweet aroma. Then, with the movements of a dancer, it strikes with whips hidden in its arms that are densely lined with poison thorns.**

"So that's what are hidden in those circles huh?" Bryce murmured as he withdrawn into his head to think. He clearly had the advantage with three pokemon, one of them being Omen, while Gardenia only had one. But Gardenia had to have a reason for being so confident when she was down to her last pokemon. As he pondered over this, the droid whirred down and he scowled at the robot.

"Is there any way you can turn that off?"

Gardenia shrugged before pulling out a small remote from her pocket and pointed at the device. She pressed a button and the bot's screen went blank as it used its reserve power to fly towards its hiding place for the rest of the battle. Bryce smiled and threw Lash's pokeball back out before the Roserade. The stout pink pokemon appeared in a white light and shot Bryce an annoyed look, obviously still sore about the Leech Seed, and turned around to eye his new opponent.

"You can go first if you like!" Gardenia shouted with a little wave.

Bryce nodded before pointing at the ninja. "Lash, use Pound!"

Lash's tongue whipped out quicker than Bryce's eye could follow, shooting directly towards Roserade, but to his surprise, the grass type leaped sideways out of danger. "Keep it up Lash!" He shouted at the Lickitung. Lash made another attempt, his tongue shooting towards the Roserade who dodged it once more, but this didn't discourage the pink pokemon who continually shot it at the Roserade as if he was throwing punches. The grass ninja kept up its fancy footwork, stepping to the side, leaping, flipping, even leaning out of the way presumably to show off. With every movement, Roserade went back a little, causing the Lickitung to follow it to stay in range. Bryce's eyes widened when he noticed what Roserade was doing and called out, "Lash! Stop!"

But the Lickitung was far too interested in catching the nuisance of a Roserade to listen to him. Bit by bit, she was leading him out of the clearing and into the trees, causing Lash, Gardenia, and Bryce to follow them to keep them both in sight. Finally, they had arrived in the midst of the trees where Roserade gave a little smirk before leaping into the mass of leaves where Lash and Bryce lost sight of it. A sharp whistle reached their ears and behind them sat the taunting grass pokemon on a branch. Irritated, Lash shot his tongue out at it and Roserade dropped into the grass below, the tongue following its every movement. Roserade ducked and weaved, dashing left and right between the tree trunks, leaping over branches before it stopped and turned around to face the appendage. Lash smiled as well, thinking that he finally caught her, but when he used his powerful tongue muscles to propel it forward, he found himself flying into the air before hanging in the air from a tree branch by his tongue.

He was so caught up in catching the elusive Roserade, that he didn't notice that his tongue was getting tangled around the trunks and branches. He desperately tried to shoot his weapon at the ninja, but he found that every time he did, the tongue tip would flop like a little worm and stop, just short of Roserade's face.

Gardenia giggled at the feat before hiding her pleased grin behind her hand. "I'm sorry Lash! Roserade, Leaf Storm!"

Roserade leaped into the air on a branch of the tree above it. It held its bouquet-hands over its head into the mass of leaves above it. When it pulled them back down, there was a sphere of leaves, packed together as if by some psychic ability with a green aura about them. It leapt down from the branch directly onto Lash's tongue. It dashed down it as though it was a sticky trail before it reached Lash's face. Lash wiggled a bit in the air, his eyes wide as he stared at the sphere of leaves, but he couldn't get down, having no choice but take the attack. Its grin growing wider, Roserade pushed its flowery hands forward, the leaves burst out as though from a hose with the sharp points directly in the poor Lickitung's face.

When the leaves disappeared, Lash fell limp, his eyes closed with his mouth still comically open. Roserade walked casually to the tip of its tongue before pulling on it and releasing. The tongue unwound itself at an unusually fast pace and found its way back into the Lickitung's mouth.

"Well I believe that's one for me." Gardenia teased, pointing at the KO'ed Lash. Bryce however, was speechless. His mouth was agape as he stared at the nonchalant Grass type. It had beaten Lash with a single order, but otherwise, it seemed to be able to handle itself without a trainer. Could he really beat something that strong? He reluctantly returned the laid out pink pokemon and tossed out another one.

"Lets go Omen!"

The ebony colored bird appeared on a branch and opened her wings calling out, 'Murkrow!' Before closing one of her wings and ducking her head under it to clean it. Bryce patiently waited, remembering that the bird did get easily annoyed. When she finished her preening, he called out, "Astonish!"

Omen opened her wings and called out as loud as she could, 'MURKROW!' Her voice boomed throughout the trees, amplified and echoing. In the shadows of the forest, she appeared to be larger than usual while her eyes seemed to give off an evil intent. Roserade, who hadn't been paying attention when Lash returned to his pokeball, stumbled back. Alarmed at the new appearance and perhaps even a little frightened before noticing it was just a Murkrow and shook its head as if in a daze.

"Now Wing Attack!"

Omen beat her wings, hovering above her branch for a moment before diving at the Roserade with her wings glowing white. Roserade's eyes widened at the speed of the pokemon and tried to leap back out of the way. But when she turned around to dash into safety's warm and inviting arms, she was hit in the back of the head by the attack and fell face first in the ground. Omen tilted her wings, using the current she created to glide upwards before flapping below the leaves but over Roserade's head.

"Roserade, go!"

With a nod, the pokemon was immediately on her feet and leaped on a tree branch before taking off through the trees, branch by branch.

"Omen, Pursuit!"

The crow flapped her wings twice, beating the air and testing the currents around her feathers before pumping her wings a final time, taking off as fast as much as the circulated air would allow her. She followed the leaf ninja through every branch and trunk, and what's more, she was catching up. Gardenia and Bryce had to dash after the pokemon to keep them in sight before Gardenia noticed the same thing, calling out, "Roserade, keep it up and use Toxic Spikes!"

Roserade turned around, still leaping from the trees with her acute senses and knowledge of the gym leading her rather than her eyes. Two holes in her blue bouquet opened to reveal two slender and purple spikes, the slipped into the crevices between her flower-like "fingers" She held her red bouquet behind her as if hiding something before flinging the two Toxic Spikes one by one at her pursuer.

"Night Shade Omen!"

Omen's eyes turned violet-black as she stared at the two oncoming weapons, shooting them down with purple beams from her eyes before they reached her. The Night Shade dimmed as she did this and she cackled at the ninja's incompetence before a third Toxic Spike came at her. She tilted her wings diagonally and tried to fly out of the way. Unfortunately, the spike hit her in her right wing and this allowed Roserade to make her escape while Gardenia followed her pokemon. Bryce ran to the left and found Omen on a branch, keeping an eye out for the elusive pokemon.

Suddenly, the forest's darkness lifted as the sun above them grew brighter, bathing the arena in a bright hot light. Murkrow screeched and covered her eyes with a wing while beating wildly with the other. She fell from the branch as she did this and Bryce caught her while she squirmed in her eyes.

"Sunny Day huh? Well I know the remedy for that."

He put Omen in the shadow of a tree opened his mouth for his next command. Suddenly, a group of long, thick grass shot out towards Omen. The grass wrapped around Omen with a "Snap!" and pulled the Murkrow away, the grass retracting from where it came as fast as a whip. Bryce ran after her alarmed before he saw it was Roserade who had pulled Omen back into the clearing where the sun was the brightest. Gardenia was back in her original place behind her and Bryce scrambled to his old position in front of the two.

"What do you think of Roserade's Grass Knot Bryce?" Gardenia asked playfully. Roserade was swinging the poor bird over her head, Omen was disorientated in the bright sunlight and could do little more than give a pathetic, "Krow..." Finally, Roserade slammed the poor bird into the ground. Omen laid still for a moment before using a wing to push itself up. It looked to Bryce as if she'd be able to continue before she cringed. She suddenly grabbed at her right wing with the left and clenched her eyes in pain.

"Looks like Toxic Spike is taking effect. If you were smart, you'd return her." Gardenia observed. Bryce sighed, he knew even if she was standing up, she was done. He held her pokeball out and shot out the red beam at her, returning her to her confines. Bryce took out his other pokeball and looked at it. It was down to Grotle and he knew it was probably a lost cause, they just weren't used to her lack of speed. But even so, if there was a chance for him to win, he was going to take it. He nodded towards the sphere for luck before throwing it in front of him. Grotle raked a foot across the ground, she seemed to believe the opposite of what Bryce was thinking. Gardenia gave a small sigh and held her hands together.

"Y'know, I'd hate to see sweet little Grotle have to lose to my Roserade! You sure you don't want to trade her for my Turtwig? He knows Leaf Storm and he can still battle."

Bryce cleared his throat and Gardenia gave a little pout and crossed her arms, falling silent for the moment.

"Ok Grotle, use Razor Leaf!"

Grotle shook her body, her bushes rustling before a wave of leaves shot of towards Roserade, spinning rapidly as they traveled through the air.

"Toxic Spike!"

Roserade released a single spike contrary to before and closed the hole on the spike while it was halfway out to hold it in place. She waited for a moment before slashing wildly at the oncoming leaves, her body a blur to Bryce's eyes. The leaves seemed to hang in the air in front of her before falling to the ground, a long purple line visible through each leaf, splitting each of them in half.

Bryce clenched his fists before pointing at Roserade, "Use Tackle!"

Grotle was on her way towards the waiting pokemon when Gardenia shouted, "Grass Knot!"

Roserade's eyes turned green for a moment which confused Bryce for a moment, where was the grass? When Grotle suddenly fell on her chin. Roserade had used Grass Knot differently than before, for around Grotle's front leg was a tangled mass of grass tied together intending to trip her. Bryce frowned, expecting Gardenia to call another attack while he was incapacitated, but instead, she stood there with her arms crossed, with an amused smile on her face. It was obvious to him that the gym leader was expecting him to come after her like he did with Cherrim. The image of Grotle looking hurt and embarrassed after the incident flashed in his head and he decided, it was time to think.

_"Until you learn how to use your Grotle's strengths, I suggest you recall it."_

'What are her strengths?...' Bryce thought as he stared at Grotle with intense concentration. 'She's powerful, that's for sure, but whenever I go to attack, Turtwig was able to dodge her easily and Roserade is definitely faster than Turtwig. It's not possible that she evolved into a weaker form is it? There has to be something..."

He continued to stare at her, lost in thought while Gardenia waited for the attack she was sure eventually would come. He glanced over his pokemon, her bushes, her short legs, her heavy form, the armor that covered the top of her body. Bryce's eyes widened in realization.

"The best offense, is a good defense." He murmured. She was slow because she had that extra armor on her back which could block and possibly even reflect attacks. Along with that, she had her extra body weight to compensate for, which could brace her for the shock of attacks. In the right conditions, his Grotle could be a tank! (Figuratively)

"Grotle, Stay right there!"

Surprised Gardenia blinked, "Really? That's what took you so long?"

A confident smile, Bryce nodded.

"Ok then, Roserade, Grass Knot and Toxic Spikes!"

The Grass Ninja of the Eterna Gym happily complied, all six holes opening as six long thick blades of grass emerged. They tied themselves together in groups of three until they looked like two large vines coming from each hand. Finally, the Grass Knots grew slender purple spikes, covering the length of each one. They both fired towards Grotle, twisting and turning around each other like two dancing Ekans.

"Withdraw!"

Grotle tucked her legs underneath her and lowered her head, the armor and her tough sides the only body parts visible. One by one, each one hit Grotle's armored head, but to Roserade's surprise, they didn't seem to do any damage and the thorns on her vines had their tips broken from where they'd attacked Grotle. She was so surprised, that she forgot to retract her vines.

"Grotle, use Bite on the Grass Knot then use Withdraw again!"

Grotle lifted her head and bit hard on the vines, taking care not to bite the poisoned thorns. She yanked the Roserade forward, knocking the ninja off her feet and towards Grotle. Just in time, Grotle lowered her head once more when a soft "thud!" was sounded and Roserade slammed her head into the effective defense mechanism.

"Roserade, Weather Ball!"

Roserade grimaced at the Grotle, leaping onto her back before jumping in the air. She held her bouquets together as she retracted her Grass Knot. When they had returned from whence they came, she kept the holes open, beams of light coming together in the open area between her hands. The Sunny Day from earlier shined directly on the light she was creating. Bit by bit, a sphere of shining light came to be, rotating and spinning. From the center of it, there was a bright and intense flame that seemed to grow bigger and bigger until the light ball was engulfed in it. It was obvious that Roserade was giving it all she had from the intense and furious look on her face. Finally, when it was finished, she reared it back behind her head and flung it directly beneath her, the intensity of the flames making it look like a comet.

"Grotle, step back and toss your head!"

Grotle slowly got up, taking a step back so the flames wouldn't burn her bushes like Gardenia and Roserade intended. She waited until she felt something heavy hit the top of her head. For a moment, she kept it perfectly still, fighting the urge to shake her head from the heat before she was sure it was perfectly balanced. When this was accomplished, she tossed her head, fling the flaming Weather Ball back up to the falling Roserade who was completely defenseless in mid-air. With wide eyes, she watched her own attack come before it hit her on her red bouquet. Immediately, the ball burst like a Molotov cocktail and engulfed the Roserade in its embers and the ignited Roserade slumped and continued her descent.

"Now Tackle!"

Grotle reared a foot back into the grass, waiting for the Roserade to be just above ground level before lowering her head and running at her, her armor guarding the tortoise from the fire. Roserade went flying through the air and fell in front of Gardenia's feet who returned the fainted pokemon before the flames could spread.

* * *

Gardenia held out a shining green badge which was a formation of three green triangles pointing up which remind Bryce of Razor Leaf.

"Congratulations Bryce, you've earned it. Just in time, you found Grotle's strength and won the battle."

Grotle grinned at the compliment and nibbled affectionately on Bryce's jeans leg but Bryce was too caught up in the badge at the moment to notice. Awe-struck, he reached forward and took it, holding it up in the light so he could admire it.

"And remember, if you ever find a grass pokemon you want to trade, you know where to find me." Gardenia added with a wink. Bryce grinned at her before remembering something he'd seen on TV once. He let out Omen and Lash and jumped in the air holding his badge while shouting,

"I got, the Forest Badge!"

He waited for an enthusiastic response from his pokemon only to find Omen and Grotle staring at him. Suddenly, there he felt something extremely hard and sticky hit him in the back of the head, striking his hat and knocking him to the ground. Lash stood behind his fallen trainer, pointing at him while yelling,

'Licki Licki!' (You're not funny!)


	22. Mini Medi In The Ponyta Ranch

AN: I just learned how to scene skip, so I won't be describing their events in every route anymore. Victory! :3 Anyways, look out for my new story, it will be called Pokemon Opal. I'm hoping this one will be the best one I've written so far since I read over Berlitz and realized it's crummy so far (Hence my dwindling fan base) But to all my supporters, just know I appreciate you, and just cause I don't note you directly, because someone told me that's against the rules, doesn't mean I don't appreciate you. Without you're encouragement, I probably would've stopped at Chapter 5 ^^

* * *

Ch. 22: Mini-Medi In The Ponyta Ranch

The stone-paved roads of Eterna City crunched with every step Bryce took. He couldn't help but notice that once again, the city was basically empty, but he didn't pay much attention. His gym badge would appear spiraling in the air in front of his face before falling back into his palm before he tossed it back up again. As far as he could see, no one was around, and though he didn't pay much attention to that, it did mean that **no one** was around.

"Stormie?"

His eyes scanned the streets in search of his companion, he had no idea when she left, whether it was during the battle, while he passed out, or when he'd come to and started clearing his hair of Lickitung saliva. After calling out for a little while, Bryce's brow furrowed in worry. Did something happen to the girl? He finally abandoned his spot in front of the gym and departed for the pokemon center, everyone was pretty tired. He handed his pokeballs to Nurse Joy, made his routine call to his mom, and for extra measure, called Professor Rowan for information on Dextette. After a few minutes, Nurse Joy returned his pokeballs to him with her routine smile.

"Have a nice day sir, we hope to see you again." As Bryce turned to leave, she immediately added, "Oh! I've almost forgotten, you're Bryce right?"

"Yes ma'am, how did you know?" he asked, turning around with a raised eyebrow.

"This dear little girl, Stormie, I believe her name was, asked me to look out for a boy with a red beret, and to pick him up before you left."

At the mention of "him", Nurse Joy pointed at the waiting benches. On the end of one of them, a blue transparent psychic barrier with Psy sitting inside. His head was bowed over as though he was sleeping while clutching the pink plate he usually carried around. Bryce approached the small pokemon and stopped in front of the bubble Psy put himself in, cautiously reaching out towards it with his forefinger. As soon as it made contact, Psy's head snapped up and looked at the boy. To Bryce, it seemed as though a look of recognition came across his face, though it was hard to tell with his eyes half-closed, and he started to hum, 'Braaaaaaaaa.' The blue sphere started to grow larger to include Bryce. Once Bryce was inside, the sphere ceased its growth spurt and started to work in reverse, shrinking itself as well as everyone inside of it until they disappeared.

* * *

_Hmmm..._

_There's someone here... _

_No..._

_Make that two someone's... _

_But wouldn't that indeed be sometwos?_

_Hmmm..._

_It's neither here nor there... _

_Hmmm, one of them has been here before..._

_The one with the large amount of Chi..._

_Hmmm, but it also seems its companion is quite formidable as well..._

_But it seems its abilities are dormant..._

_Has this creature, human or pokemon, yet realized its potential?_

_Hmmm..._

_...

* * *

_

"Oof!"

Bryce rubbed his sore rear for what felt like the umpteenth time while glaring at the young Abra, but the golden psychic didn't seem to mind it. He was back with his mother and returned to his nap.

"So did you win?" Stormie asked between sips of the beverage she was drinking. Psy had teleported the two of them next to a table shaded by an umbrella decoratively placed in the middle. Bryce almost fell to the ground again at the question.

'So she did leave in the middle of the battle...' Bryce thought gloomily before saying out loud, "Yeah I won, thanks for your support."

Bryce stood up and brushed the dirt off from his jeans and had looked around for a moment.

"Hey," he said slowly, "I know where we are!"

Around the table there was a wide open prairie which had a wooden fence that surrounded the premises. Within were a variety of cream colored equines with blazing manes grazing in the grass. One lay by the table with its legs curled underneath itself in a deep slumber. There were bandages around its front legs while another stood protectively by it and snorted when Bryce looked at it. After this small warning, it returned to its previous duty of keeping an eye on the mischievous Haunter who was sipping the same beverage as Stormie across the table from her, its pinkie noticeably out.

"What are you doing at the Ponyta Ranch?" Bryce asked indignantly, a little irritated that his companion would choose to take a tea break around Ponytas rather than watch him win his gym battle.

"Long story short, him."

Stormie pointed down to the far corner of the ranch where most of the Ponytas avoided. Around the corner, a couple of boxes hovered around a levitating figure with its legs crossed in the Lotus Position. Both arms were stretched outwards with its thumb and forefingers pressed together in little "O's." It had curled ears that reminded Bryce of honey buns high on each side of its head and Bryce could have sworn that he heard a deep resonating hum coming from it, but rather than hearing it from his ears, he heard it in his head. Pulling out his pokedex again, he scanned it.

**...**

A flicker came across the screen and the image of a jagged red pokemon flashed before the screen went blank. Stormie cleared her throat from where she was sitting, but Bryce ignored it. He slammed it against the table with the same results when finally, the pokemon in Ponyta Ranch appeared again.

**Meditite, the Meditate Pokemon. It continually meditates for hours every day. As a result of rigorous and dedicated yoga training, it has tempered its spiritual power so much it can fly.**

Bryce looked up from the pokedex, then looked down once more at the pokemon's stats a little confused.

"There must be something wrong, the pokedex says normal Meditites are usually 2 feet, that one is only about a foot, and it can't be an infant if it's already meditating as hard as it is." Bryce shot Stormie a look but she waved a lazy hand at him.

"Relax, it's not your pokedex this time," she assured him, "even if it is possessed... That Meditite's different than ordinary Meditites, and I'm not just talking about its size."

"Are you talking about Mini-Medi?" came a small voice coming from the stables. Bryce turned around to find a small freckled girl standing behind him, beaming at Bryce.

"Taylor!" Bryce cried as he scooped up the girl in an Ursaring hug while Taylor squirmed and giggled in the boy's affectionate embrace.

"Hi Bryski!" Taylor squeaked happily when he put her down.

"Bryski?" Stormie asked, cocking an eyebrow at him with a smug amused smile on her face. Face burning, he ignored the question.

"Stormie, this is Taylor, she's been like a little sister to me. How old are you now?"

"Eight and a half!" Taylor chirped.

"Yeah, we've met," Stormie said between her sips. "How do you think I got here, y'see, while you were battling, her Ponyta got loose and she asked for my help, and as it turns out, that little guy over there was the reason."

"Yeah Bryski, you've missed a lot since you've last been here."

* * *

"C'mon Glaceon!" Taylor cried as the arctic fox trotted at her hills. She was dressed in her usual overalls and long sleeved shirt skipping around and grinning at all the pokemon to show off her lost tooth. After she showed off the gap in her teeth to all the Ponyta, she skipped off around the stables to where her mother's Ditto had been residing for the past week.

"Dupe! Guess what?" she shouted as she made her way over to where the Ditto resided. As she turned the corner from around where the stables were located, she stopped with wide eyes. Dupe was lying in its usual space, sleeping behind the stable wall, but its shape was grotesque. Its pink blobby form was stretched to its limits in the shape of an oval. Taylor blinked before poking the transformer, expecting the usual rubbery effect to deflect her finger. Instead, she found something hard press against her finger.

"Dupe, what are you laying on?" Taylor asked as she forced her fingers under Dupe and tried to pry it off the object. Its eyes immediately snapped open as it stared at the girl before they shifted to Glaceon. The pokemon's form lifted off the object it was lying on, but what it was still hidden from Taylor as the blob stretched and morphed into a replica Glaceon and snarled at the two. Startled that her mother's pokemon would do such a thing, Taylor stepped back while the real Glaceon leaped into action, bounding in front of her and returning the snarl with gusto. In the blink of an eye, both pokemon were intertwined around each other in a match Taylor had never seen before.

Growling and yipping, the two foxes were a whirling mass of fur, claws, and teeth. Soon, the real Glaceon untangled itself from the fight, gave Taylor an anxious look from her to the unknown object, and ran off around the stable while Dupe ran after it to make sure the icy fox was really gone. Seizing this opportunity, Taylor grabbed the oblong object and ran off towards the house. She slammed the door and laid it on the kitchen table.

The object was covered in a blanket, a blanket that Taylor had been looking for, for over a week, and seemed to pulse when Taylor touched it. As if it was Christmas Day, Taylor ripped off the blanket and tossed it carelessly behind her, her curiosity overwhelming her usual need to guard her possessions. Her eyes widened in wonder at the object as she carefully picked it up, the oval pulsing gently like a heartbeat.

"What is this?" She sighed in awe. The oval was the color of the sky on a sunny day with a triangular white design on the bottom that reminded Taylor of a diaper. She giggled at the thought when she heard something in her head. Intrigued, she experimentally pressed her ear to the object and heard what seemed to be voices buzzing around in her heads. She closed her eyes to concentrate on it when a loud noise came from the door.

'Pony!'

A Ponyta that looked remarkably like her favorite Ponyta, Grace, was ramming the door. After each hit, she'd toss her head with wild eyes and whinny loudly before continuing her onslaught.

"Grace?" She asked astounded that the usually tame Ponyta would act like this, but after a moment she realized it wasn't Grace. Though the both shared the birthmark of a star on their forehead, it couldn't be her. Grace never woke up earlier than noon, despite the protests of the breeders of the ranch. Her skeptical thoughts were confirmed when Glaceon bounded from behind the horse and tried to bite one of its hind legs.

"What's going on out here?" A voice demanded as a half-dressed woman swept through the house to inspect all the noise.

"Hi mommy." Taylor mumbled guiltily as her mother, Meagan opened the door and patted the wild mare on the head. This however proved to do nothing as the horse still continued to force its way into the house while the persistent Glaceon continued to attack the pokemon's legs. Dupe sensed that it couldn't retaliate against Glaceon while it was this large. So it suddenly shrunk, returning to its original form. Stretching, it wrapped itself around the length of Glaceon's body while Glaceon yipped in protest.

"Calm down you two!" Meagan shouted as she grabbed Dupe and tried as hard as she could to pull the gooey blob off of the unfortunate fox. Feeling responsible for the squabble, Taylor took a step towards the trio to try and help her mother when she heard a noise.

"Thump!"

Turning around, Taylor glanced at the object she put on the table. During all the commotion, it had fallen over on its side. She reached out to set it back up when it happened again.

"Thump! Thump!"

The mysterious object seemed to leap up on its own and produced a dim glow that started to grow brighter and brighter. The spectacle was so breath-taking, Taylor barely noticed the fight had ended and all three came to watch.

"A pokemon egg," Meagan breathed as she held Taylor's shoulders, "And it's hatching!"

The egg's dazzling light had grown as bright as a dim sun, causing Taylor to squint her eyes when as suddenly as it lit, it extinguished, revealing a tiny form, no bigger than a doll. Its legs were crossed and its eyes were closed and its arms were extended with its fingers closed together.

"Where did you find a Meditite egg Taylor?" Meagan asked accusingly. Meditites, and their evolutions, lived near the ranch and it was obvious to Taylor that Meagan thought it was stolen from a nearby Medicham clan.

"Dupe had it!" Taylor shouted and pointed at the Ditto who was staring at the Meditite. Something about the pokemon, whether it was its child or not, seemed to unnerve it and Glaceon, so both pokemon kept their distance. Meagan reached out cautiously and picked up the tiny creature in the palm of her hand, her black gloves in front of Taylor's face. Upon seeing the gloves, Taylor felt the need to ask about the curious lettering on them again, on her right hand was the word OM in red lettering, while the left hand had DO, but didn't feel it was an appropriate time. The breeder was busy doing her job and observed the miniscule being.

"It's odd," she mumbled, "Meditites, even if they're newborn, are usually larger than this, even the runts. Not only that, but it's already started on its meditating, newborn Meditites usually take a while to adjust to being born before they start on their meditation. They normally start on their physical training."

_So we do, human. But as you can plainly see, I am not your average everyday Meditite.

* * *

_

"Wait, Mini-Medi spoke to you?" Bryce inquired, interested. Even Stormie, who had claimed to have heard the story before, leaned forward with an intrigued look on her face.

"Yep, mommy says its normal for, I think she said, sen-ti-ent, psychic pokemon. Something called, teleepaffy."

"You mean telepathy?" Stormie asked.

"Yeah that's it! But she said that it's weird for Mini-Medi to use it at such an early age.

"Hey where is your mom anyway?" Bryce asked, looking around for the breeder. "Isn't she usually around here with Glaceon, Dupe, and Weavile?"

"Yep, but she said she had something that needed her attention."

Bryce shrugged, "So what are you doing here Stormie?"

"Well, your "little sister" asked me to come over and help with Mini-Medi. It seems that it's been getting increasingly hostile."

Alarmed, Bryce shot her a look, "Then why are you just sitting here?"

"Relax Bryce, it's not doing it on purpose. Besides, I already tried and that Meditite is a lot tougher than it looks, I've tried everyone, even Psych and that pokemon just won't budge."

"Yeah Bryski, Mommy said his Meditation State is getting dangerous."

"Meditation State?" Bryce asked.

"Yeah, it's what Mommy calls his hidden power. She said it's rare but not unheard of, its where Mini-Medi meditates so hard, that his eyes glow blue and he makes things go,"-When she said this, she made a loud sound effect not unlike a vacuum and waved around with her arms in the air-"It scared Grace off and I found Stormie to help me!"

"Yeah," Stormie added modestly while waving a hand at the two. "But unfortunately, Combusken got carried away."

She motioned at the Ponyta with the bandaged leg. Noticing the attention drawn towards the injured pokemon, the Ponyta standing over her nickered and tossed its head at the three.

"Sorry about Blaze," Taylor added apologetically, "He's new."

Bryce just nodded before the little girl suddenly grabbed him by the arm and started tugging him in Mini-Medi's direction.

"C'mon Bryski! Maybe you can help!"

"Wha-What?"

"Well you're a pokemon trainer now aren't you?" She demanded.

"Well yeah, but-!"

"No buts! C'mon!"

* * *

_So, they're trying to restrain me again hmmm?..._

_This will be fun..._


	23. Reaching Mini Medi

AN: Later, during the telepathic conversation, there won't be much to describe, so as a heads up, for every line break, that means the other person/pokemon is talking. Also, Pokemon Opal will come out soon, but my thoughts are sorta scattered so sorry my updates are coming less frequently.

Reminder: _Thoughtspeak

* * *

_

Ch. 23: Reaching Mini-Medi

"Are you sure we should just attack him like this?"

The human trio were standing a fair distance away from Mini-Medi subconsciously following the Ponytas' actions. Mini-Medi hovered in the air in front of them, crates of Pokemon Food and straw floating around him slowly as if trapped in an orbit. However, it seemed the only thing Bryce noticed was that Mini-Medi had his eyes closed.

"I mean, he doesn't even realize we're-"

"Trust me, he knows we're here, we have to do it Bryce, he's spooking all the pokemon," Stormie said, cutting off the naive comment while a vision of a flying Combusken immediately came to mind. "And I hate to say it, but you're on your own."

"Wh-what?" Bryce asked alarmed, staggering back a couple of steps.

"You're not scared are you Bryski?" Taylor giggled.

At the accusation, Bryce didn't reply. With his head held up and fierce determination in his eyes, he stepped forward and pulled a random pokeball.

"Go Grotle!"

The ball burst open and in a white light, Grotle appeared, lying on her four legs with a yawn. She glanced wearily at Bryce before turning her head and nodding off. She cared for the boy but she was, much to Bryce's dismay, a little too tired to deal with him at the moment. Taylor however was delighted.

"That's your pokemon Bryce? She's so cute!"

She leapt forward and hugged the slumbering pokemon around her armored head to which Grotle responded with a snort. Bryce smacked himself on the head before jumping up and pushing Grotle hard in the rear, running to keep up his momentum.

"C'mon Grotle! It's time to battle!"

Grotle yawned once more and slowly stood up. Satisfied, Bryce stopped pushing her and pointed at Mini-Medi.

"Lets start things off with Tackle!"

With a grunt, Grotle plowed forward, lumbering towards the seemingly oblivious Mini-Medi. Just as she reached the orbit in which the wooden boxes were rotating around the meditating pokemon, she abruptly stopped. Her head suddenly snapped upwards as though she had run into something and, for a moment, the air she had just approached flashed blue and the wooden boxes crashed to the ground. With wide eyes she slowly slid onto the ground, stunned.

"What the-?" Bryce cried, "What happened?"

Stormie shrugged. "Don't know, but I'm pretty sure it's Protect."

Bryce nodded, he'd seen this on his father's victory tape and Protect usually didn't work twice in a row.

"Lets try this again Grotle!"

Grotle snorted, backing away from Protect's range before scraping a foot across the ground. After doing this three times she charged at the meditating pokemon once more. This time, her head didn't hit the Protect so she triumphantly sped up once she passed the obstacle. However, as she approached Mini-Medi, Bryce saw something flash green behind the pokemon's eyelids. Before he could shout out a warning, the pokemon swerved to the side, never once touching the ground.

Grotle flew by and skidded to a screeching halt, she turned her head at the unharmed pokemon with a confused look on her face.

"And that would be Detect."

His teeth gnashing, Bryce pointed at the elusive pokemon and shouted, "Razor Leaf, go!"

Grotle turned her vast body around, her bushes bristling as though they were living creatures. A vast barrage of razor sharp leaves shot out at Mini-Medi. It did not meet the Protect barrier nor did the Meditite's eyes flash beneath the curtains that were its eyelids. Just when Bryce thought they'd meet their mark, the pokemon raised both hands in front of it. With a flash of blue on each palm, the pokemon waved its arms rapidly, deflecting each and every leaf.

Bryce turned to Stormie, mouth agape. Stormie just shrugged, maintaining her usual poise.

"That would be Protect again. I'm going to assume that Mini-Medi didn't have time to form a whole barrier, so he reduced it to his hands instead. Attacks can have more than one appearance y'know." She paused with a grimace, "You should see a way Combusken uses Ember."

Out of the corner of his eye, Bryce saw Haunter at the picnic table point at his backside before giving a wide grin and pointing at Mini-Medi. Bryce followed the finger with his eyes to find the unresponsive pokemon was a little different. A corner of its mouth had made a slight movement upward, it was so subtle, that Bryce barely noticed at first. But when he fully registered what the pokemon was doing, he snarled and returned the Grotle immediately.

"That's a smirk! Mini-Medi's making fun of me! I'll show him, go Omen!"

His second pokeball burst open, the small crow appeared in the air with its head was under its wing. It fell through the air like a stone and hit its head on the ground. It immediately jumped up, wincing while glowering at the young trainer.

'Murkrow!' It demanded as it clutched at its mild injury. However, Bryce was too ticked off to notice.

"Omen, Wing Attack, Night Shade, Peck!" Bryce shouted in rapid succession. The bird snorted before opening its wings, finding a warm air current before taking off. Its wings started to glow bright white as it grew nearer and nearer to its target. However, right before he reached Mini-Medi, it's eyelids flashed green again.

"Just as I predicted." Bryce mumbled under his breath as he watched the events unfold. Once again, Mini-Medi swiveled to the side unharmed as Omen flew past him. The bird remembered its earlier orders however and didn't stop to dwindle on the curious move. It turned in the air once it was a fair distance from her target and dived towards the target with her wings wide. Jagged black and violet beams shot from the tips of its feathered appendages. Just as before, the beam met with the bright blue barrier that was Protect.

Omen never stopped her mid-air assault. Once Night Shade faded and the blue barrier disappeared, she put her wings to her side, dive-bombing the Meditite with her curved beak that slightly resembled a scimitar. Bryce held his breath in anticipation. This time, there was no way out for Mini-Medi. No time for Detect, and it was too soon for Protect again. So why was the type hybrid rotating?

Unfortunately, Omen didn't notice this movement until it was too late. As soon as Protect was destroyed, Mini-Medi had started to spin with its arms extended, slow and steady at first but it started picking up speed. Soon the pokemon was nothing but a blur blue and gray air. When it reached its maximum velocity, the air around it made the sound of a fierce wind as though the pokemon was sucking it in. Bryce noted that both of its arms were completely obscured by a couple of miniature tornadoes. Then, as soon as Omen reached the pokemon, Mini-Medi came to sudden halt and pushed both palms forward towards Omen (Imagine Kamehameha DBZ fans).

The twisters that surrounded its arms shot out and came in contact with each other, creating a titanic wind vortex that slammed towards the surprised Murkrow who tumbled and fell, its beak hitting the ground hard. Bryce observed a trickle of blood come from the corner of the wounded pokemon's beak.

"What kind of move was that?"

"Mama called it Vacuum Wave," Taylor chimed in for the first time in a while.

Bryce returned his dark crow before scratching himself on the head.

"I don't get it...How is he so powerful?"

"Well Bryce," Stormie started, "You have to consider that Mini-Medi's been meditating since the day he was born. To compensate the fact that he's small in stature and didn't believe he could be physically strong, obviously he decided to raise his special attacks, and here's the result."

"Then how are we supposed to catch him?"

"Catch him?"

"Of course we have to catch him, he obviously can't stay here. Once we get him, we'll release him with a group of Medicham or something."

"And how are we supposed to do that?"

"Well, a full-on attack is out of the question so we'll have to resort to stealth."

"And how do you suppose that will work? He can sense us coming before we even reach him!"

"That's cause he's reading your mind."

Bryce and Stormie turned around towards Taylor. After a minute, Bryce finally spoke up.

"What do you mean he's reading our minds?"

"I told you earlier he was tele...tele..." Taylor stopped as she tried to remember the word.

"Telekinetic." Stormie said.

"Yeah! That! But he can only do it when the mind he's trying to read is a certain distance away."

"So... You're saying nothing we can do will beat him?" Bryce asked, astounded.

"No, I'm saying you should talk to him."

* * *

_Hmmm..._

_They stopped?..._

_So soon?..._

_No..._

_I think..._

_They are still planning to attempt something..._

_If only they were closer..._

Bryce swallowed as he stood outside the perimeter Protect usually inhabited. He turned around at his audience which consisted of Taylor, Stormie, and the newly refreshed Haunter who waved cheerily at Bryce's predicament. He stared at the floating pokemon, turned back towards his friends, then turned back around.

"What are you afraid of? It's a Meditite, not a Gyarados." Stormie teased with a small smile on her face while Taylor just burst into a fit of giggles.

"He's a Psychic type though. He can mess with my head!"

"Quit worrying and go in!" Stormie said before pushing Bryce forward. To his mild surprise, there was no Protect to stop his passage. He swallowed again and licked his parched lips before sitting cross-legged in front of Mini-Medi. He had no idea what to do next so he just mimicked the pokemon and closed his eyes, waiting for something to happen before starting to think.

* * *

_How am I supposed to know when he's reading my mind?_

_You'll know..._

_Mini-Medi?_

_No, that is not my real name, just the title the girl prefers to call me, to which I have no objections. My spiritual name is Salah satu yang mendapat penerangan-penerangan, it means The Enlightened One._

_Uh, I think I'll call you Mini-Medi._

_That's what she said._

_Was that a joke?_

_No, she really said it. She... As in the young girl... Why must you humans always associate innocent remarks to subjects of the sexual nature?_

_That's sexual?_

_Oh dear..._

Bryce then began to think of an idea to capture the elusive Mini-Medi before he heard the pokemon's voice chime in his head once more.

_That won't work... Neither will that... A very nice plan, it's too bad that I can read your mind... You do realize you're not facing an incompetent rodent? You might as well be straightforward. I know what you're trying to do, I know how you plan to do it, and I know when you will try to carry it out. And if you try it as of now, I will be able to thwart your efforts._

_Uh...Then how am I supposed to...erm... How do I put this?... Catch you?_

_Well for one, you could try asking._

_Asking?_

_Yes, like an intelligent individual... Pretend for a moment that you **are** an intelligent individual._

_...Fine, I'll ignore that comment but...Will you let me catch you?_

_Hmmmm, would you say your mental capacity is at least the level of a Mankey's?_

_My mental what now?_

_Arceus give me strength, this child is going to need a lot of mental stimulation._

_Hey! Are you saying I'm dumb?_

_Are you insinuating that you're dumb?_

_Are you mocking me?_

_Am I?_

_Cut it out!_

_How can I cut anything without the proper instruments?_

_I mean stop!_

_How can I stop if I am not moving from this spot? If I am correct, I would first need to "Go" before I can "Stop"_

_AH!_

_Now you're just speaking Dunsparce. Listen, I have decided to join you._

**_You've_**_, decided? Why would I catch a pokemon who does nothing but belittle my intelligence?_

_Because, if what I am receiving from your brainwaves are correct, then you will need a pokemon with a lot of Chi._

_..._

_...It's what you humans call... I believe a Psychic Type?_

_Oh? For the next gym?_

_Not only that dear child, but for your quest._

_My quest?... Oh! You mean Team Galactic... Well I'll have Stormie with me and she has Psy and Psych._

_Yes and if what I've received from them is true, then the one called Psych, the Psyduck I believe, is an idiot, and Psy... Hmmm Psy does not wish to exert himself until it is absolutely necessary. A very wise creature._

_Fine you can come, but only if you tell me something._

_Sure._

_Why are you calling me child? You're younger than I am!  
_

_Your ignorance reveals itself once again child.

* * *

_

AN: Mini-Medi's spiritual name is actually Indonese for The Enlightened One. I looked it up :P


	24. Against All Odds

Ch. 24: Against All Odds

_Hmmm..._

A blue flash momentarily filled the sky before vanishing into oblivion, leaving nothing but the tanned bag behind.

_This is interesting..._

Red and white spheres fell from two figures and scattered into various clusters into the grass below.

_Very interesting..._

A pained cry pierced the air, scaring a group of Starly's from their perches.

_I should warn him..._

A small terrified creature tore off into the tall grass as it tried to shake its pursuer.

_But then again, one often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it..._

A small group quarreled audibly before splitting up and going opposite directions.

_However, if this is truly his, possibly our, destiny..._

A blunt object struck someone, leaving a small mark on their figure and downing it.

_Then I should tell him...

* * *

_

Bryce shook his head, his arms crossed firmly in front of his chest as Taylor jumped up and down protesting.

"C'mon! You heard Mama! She said I could come with you!"

Bryce frowned decisively while the younger girl continued to bounce in front of him with her desperate pleas and arguments. Since he had caught Mini-Medi, Stormie and he decided to go to Hearthome for her next contest. Unbeknownst to them, while they were making plans, Stacy had made concocted a plan of her own and called her mother for permission to go with them. Bryce had come in just in time to hear the last of it, much to his distress.

Neither Taylor nor her mother had any idea what his goal was and, Bryce thought, it probably wouldn't it matter in the long run. Taylor always had a way of getting her way. She wasn't demanding or spoiled, she just had this own special ability about her. Bryce used to call it Cute Charm when he was younger to tease her, but now more than ever, he felt the ability was all too real. He found it harder and harder to look at her and deny her wishes so he looked over her head, hence the bouncing.

"C'mon! Do you really think Blaze will listen to you without me?"

Once again, she had a point. Meagan had made it clear that if they wanted to get from town-to-town quickly, they would have to take a couple of Ponytas, at least until they reached Taylor's uncle in Solaceon Town. She didn't want Grace, the slightly inconvenienced, Ponyta to stay on her own and they couldn't keep Blaze away from the source of his infatuation. So it was a given that they were the two Ponytas that they would take.

Grace had taken to Stormie right away, obviously forgetting who ordered the attack on her legs, nuzzling her head against her while the coordinator stroked her head. However, Blaze glared distrustfully at Bryce. All the while he kept an eye on Grace, but it seemed he knew who was going to ride him, and he definitely didn't like it.

Bryce turned from the Ponyta and sighed, he found his defenses were breaking down one by one.

"But Taylor," he said warily, taking his hat off for a moment as he brought his hand through his hair like an old man, "you don't even have a pokemon to defend yourself with. What are you going to do when we run into a wild pokemon?"

Taylor grinned and clung to his wrist, "I have my big brother Bryski to protect me."

This was the feather that broke the Camerupt's back, "Fine... But only as far as Solaceon Town."

Taylor did a silent cheer, lifting her knee and pumping her fist while mouthing, "Yes!" Before she took off towards the house, flying through the kitchen door. Stormie shook her head, still patting her mount on the head.

"What?" Bryce asked defensively, raising his hands.

Stormie shot him an inquisitive look that seemed to say, _You really don't know?_

Bryce only frowned, blushing albeit a little angrily and ignored it, turning away to pull out his pokedex and Mini-Medi's pokeball to occupy his time. He scanned the pokeball and mentally skipped everything he already knew.

'Size... Gender... Physiology... Ah! Moves! Let's see, Bide, Meditate, Confusion, Detect, Protect, Hidden Power, Vacuum Wave, Mind Reader, Feint, and Calm Mind... Wow he's strong... How could you get that strong just by meditating?"

_It's very simple._

Bryce blinked and looked around, earning a wave from Haunter and an aggresive snort from Blaze.

"What, was that?" He asked, removing his beret for a moment to scratch his head.

_It is I, Salah satu yang mendapat penerangan-penerangan._

"How are you-?"

_Think child._

"I am, but I still can't-"

_No, I mean really think. The others are looking at you as though you're hearing voices._

_But... I am._

_I mean the types of voices that threaten your sanity._

_And you don't apply?_

_Ah, touché. But I don't believe now is the time to try, what you call, jokes._

_Fine fine, how are you talking to me anyway?_

_That is for another time, I must warn you... I have had a vision._

_And I'm the crazy one?_

_Silence child... I can't tell you too much, that can drastically alter the course of the future. But I can tell you just enough to shift the events._

_Ok fine, what is it?_

_Beware the sand that thwarts the stone..._

Bryce almost immediately put this warning out of his head, taking it as the ravings of a deluded Meditite. Over the thirty minutes that followed the prophecy, or whatever you'd call the pokemon's imagination, he had problems of his own, namely Blaze. When Taylor went inside to get everything she needed for the journey, Bryce tried all he could to control the Ponyta on his own so he wouldn't have to worry about taking the little girl on his dangerous quest. Every single one of those attempts ended with a kick in the stomach and a bruised shoulder.

When he did finally manage to mount the horse, he burned the seat of his pants, much to the amusement of Haunter and Stormie who had mounted Grace already, and was just rubbing his singed butt when Taylor came out sporting a pink backpack giggling.

"Bryski! You already know you can't mount a Ponyta unless it's willing."

She skipped over to the Ponyta and stroked his long snout. Almost as if her hand had a soothing touch, the horse gently nodded its head forward and enjoyed the girl's gentle treatment. After a while, he appeared to doze off and Bryce took the oppurtunity to approach the Ponyta. Just when he thought he'd get away with it, the Ponyta's left eye snapped open and stared at him. It wasn't a threatening glance, just a look that was meant to tell him, _I know you're there, don't you dare think you can sneak up on me again._

Bryce stood still as a statue as the equine stared at him before it snorted gently and closed its eye. Bryce let out a breath, relieved. This didn't rid him of his caution however as he slowly moved towards the Ponyta. He gradually reached towards the mild inferno on Blaze's back. Right when his finger was an inch away from the flames, Taylor shouted,

"Will you just get on already!"

This sudden outburst startled him so much, he stumbled forward, his hand falling into the blaze. He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the pain. However, it never came, he opened his eyes in minor surprise and found his hand was in the midst of the flames, yet he was miraculously unharmed. He turned his hand through the flames experimentally with mild wonder. Although there was heat, it wasn't enough to harm him. It was a pleasant warm feeling one received when sitting next to a fireplace, or while wearing a jacket, or even- Taylor giggled, breaking Bryce from his stupor.

He grimaced at Taylor, playfully due to his relief, and placed pressure on the Ponyta's back. Pressing down a little harder for support, he slung himself over the stallion's back. Taylor grinned at him, as if amazed he made a mountain from a Diglett's burrow. He stuck his tongue out at her and Taylor mounted the front of the equine.

"Hey! Why do you get to lead?"

As if to answer for her, Blaze sent a small burst of heat under Bryce's butt.

* * *

Gible was beyond pissed.

Here he was, napping in a hole he was constructing in the shade of the Fated Path. His bulky chin was resting on his stout arms while a bubble poked out of his nostril. He was having a nice dream about finding a cave full of treasure that none of the other Gibles didn't know about. He was right in the middle of loading his immense mouth with the fortune when he felt an itch across his nose. He wiped it away annoyed before he returned to cramming his mouth. The itch came back with a vengeance and suddenly, the treasure was gone. Nothing was there but his hole, the shadow of the Condemned Road, and a pokemon with a stick.

He was almost red from the fury of his anger, and what was the pokemon who had dared to wake him up doing? Laughing and jabbing at him with the branch. Before the Gible could so much as lift his chin, the pokemon was gone, floating away at full speed. Gible snarled, he was tired and wished to go back to his dreams of gold and riches, but he knew that just made him a target for the pokemon. The only thing he could do was defeat the pokemon and show it who was boss. With a sharp exhale, he stood up grudgingly and trudged after it.


	25. That Nagging Feeling

AN: I've noticed some of you have tried to review, and I appreciate it. I was aware when I fused the chapters together that some of you might not be able to review for a while, and but I still want you to at least try and reach me until my story allows you to review again, I love hearing from you guys :}

* * *

Ch. 25: That Nagging Feeling

Blaze whinnied and tossed his head in protest, and for a good reason. Before the two Ponytas and their riders, was a long bridge once dubbed Cycling Road. Years ago many trainers would use this trail to head for Mt. Coronet, but ever since an incident with an Onix after the Team Galactic takeover, the road was no longer cared for and was deemed a new name.

"C'mon Blaze!" Taylor insisted, "The only way to get to Hearthome is to cross Condemned Bridge!"

Blaze still hesitated, touching the edge of the bridge with its hoof before quickly retreating when the pavement it touched fell away leaving a large hole. He snorted, tossed his head again, and closed his eyes tightly with a stubborn look on his face. Bryce just shook his head and leaned back, appreciative of the oppurtunity to let go of the eight year old.

"It's no use Taylor, Blaze is too afra-" He stopped for a moment when he felt the horse start to warm under him, "Blaze is too _cautious _to cross the bridge, and frankly, I don't blame him. I mean, look at it!"

He motioned towards the neglected stone bridge. It was covered in large holes almost obstructing the path before them. Every now and again Bryce could see visible pieces of bridge fall away into spiraling clumps of debris.

"And besides, what Mini-Medi said worries me," Stormie offered, "So maybe we should turn around and find another way to Hearthome."

Bryce nodded in agreement and moved to turn around when he suddenly remembered he didn't have the reigns. They were in the hands of a persistent Taylor who had tuned out the whole conversation.

"C'mon Blaze! Grace looks up to you! Do you want her to think that you're too afraid to cross a crummy old bridge?"

Blaze opened his right eye to look at Grace who was indeed looking at Blaze with a meek look on her face. Blaze stood for a moment before nodding, his other eye opening and staring at the bridge with a determined look on his face.

"Taylor," Bryce started with a hesitant look on his face. "We should turn around."

But Taylor only grinned, tightening her grip on the reigns before sharply tugging on them with a sharp snap.

"Yah!" She cried as Blaze tore down the road. Bryce let out a strangled cry in response before clinging wildly to the girl. Stormie gave an exasperated sigh before snapping the reigns and following her.

* * *

Gible stopped for a moment to regain his bearings. He put his claws on his knees and stooped over breathing hard. He mentally swore at the pokemon that dared to mess with him while he slept. After a few deep breaths he stood up and looked around. He'd lost his target, it was surely long gone by now... Unless, of course that pokemon was idiotic enough to come back and taunt.

As soon as Gible felt a stick poke him in the back of the head, he grinned madly and turned around to face the Geodude that had tormented him in his slumber.

* * *

Terrified as he was, Bryce had to stop and marvel at how talented an equestrian Taylor was at such a young age. She weaved around every hole, leaped over every crevice, and just barely missed a crack that Bryce felt would've surely broken Blaze's leg. Every now and again, Bryce looked behind him to keep track of Stormie's progress, but she seemed to be doing fine, mostly, he thought, because Grace was doing most of the work while Stormie clung to the bag that contained Psy.

The closer they came to the arch that marked the end of the ill-fated trail, the more Bryce felt at ease, but for some reason, he couldn't get this feeling out of his head. It reminded him of whenever Mini-Medi spoke to him, yet whenever Bryce tried to think at him, he didn't get an answer back. He deduced it had to be some kind of psychic power working in his head, but he couldn't figure out what it was. He decided to ignore it and kept his eyes glued on the arch.

But even as he tried to ignore the strange feeling, he was suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of dread and involuntarily thought, _'Here it comes!_' Clenching his eyes shut as Taylor urged Blaze to leap over a hole.

* * *

The Geodude grinned at the Gible, not at all put off by the fact the pokemon was grinning at him.

(Ooooh, I'm so scared, you're _smiling!_ What are you going to do? I'm all the way up here, and _you're down there!_)

This was true, the Geodude that had so thoroughly annoyed Gible with his accursed stick was hovering several feet above him, next to a beam that was supporting the Condemned Road. Yet the Gible still smiled, even cackling madly before he puffed up his cheeks.

(Oooh! And now hes doing his impression of a Qwilfish! Very good! But can you do-)

The words stopped in their tracks when the rock type was suddenly struck by a barrage of fierce sand, twisting and turning around the hard body as it slammed into the taunting Geodude and knocked him into the beam, breaking it in two as the pokemon fell to the ground with wide eyes. Gible grinned, satisfied with its Sandstorm, and turned around towards its hole so it could dream of riches once more.


End file.
